Paul Lee at Old Oakland Farmers’ Market
Kay Lee Farm is a 70 acre family farm in Fresno, CA. Operated by farmer Paul Lee and started in 1980 by Paul’s parents who emigrated from Laos, the farm continues to employ four family members alongside hired staff. Kay Lee Farm started out selling Asian leafy green produce to wholesale brokers, but the farm came to rely on farmers’ markets after the North American Free Trade Agreement led to cratered prices for produce with the importation of cheaper agricultural products. The farm currently employs five field workers and three warehouse workers in addition to owners/operators Paul and his family members. Together, they grow, harvest, and sell 30-40 crop varieties. This crop diversity maintains long-term soil fertility through good crop rotation.
Ecology Center staff member Lucy Boltz met up with Paul Lee at the Old Oakland farmers’ market to chat about what it’s like to farm, the history of his family farm, and his thoughts about the Market Match program. Market Match offers CalFresh/SNAP shoppers extra money to spend on fresh fruits and vegetables at farm-direct sites. And Kay Lee sells his produce at three Market Match farmers’ markets in the San Francisco Bay Area. Ecology Center leads the statewide Market Match program that operates at around 260 sites across 36 counties in the state and prioritizes small, sustainable farmers like Paul, as well as increased fresh and local food access for low income Californians.
Ecology Center: What do you like about farming? What do you find difficult?
Paul Lee: To be honest it’s a tough job. One, the money, and two, being able to see your produce grow up and look good. That’s it. There are a lot of challenges. Labor being one of them. Because farming is an easy industry to go into, and a lot of market competition. You are throwing in thousands of dollars into the soil, and you hope that nature takes care of you—that it grows up and you can cover your investments.
Ecology Center: What do you think is one of the biggest challenges for new and established farmers?
Paul Lee: New farmers—definitely trying to get loans. If you are trying to till by hand, even with a walk behind tiller, you can only manager one acre only. If you can get a tractor that will go a long way. For established farmers, water is a big challenge. If that land is cheap, you go there and you find very little water. And labor is a second one.
Ecology Center: Are you concerned about climate change?
Paul Lee: We see it every year. One year, you think the weather is gonna be great. A few days later, you have heavy rains that drown your plants. Shoot! Next month, you think it’s going to rain in May. You plant all your plants, and it’s super hot and all your plants stress out. You definitely see a big fluctuation in weather, and that plays a big part in farming.
Ecology Center: How do you choose the crops you grow?
Paul Lee: The customers kind of choose it for you. You introduce a new produce: is it a hit or not? And you have staples you stick with, which are dictated by what your customers are buying. Those would definitely be bitter melon, eggplants, gourds.
Ecology Center: What are your customers most excited about?
Paul Lee: Long jujubes will definitely be the one they want. You get about one and a half months [for the harvest season].
Ecology Center: What percentage of your customers use Market Match?
Paul Lee: With the overall total, we get about 50/50 of cash and EBT. It’s great. It allows CalFresh recipients to be able to spend [their benefits] on fresh produce. You already have EBT, and Market Match is an incentive to spend it on fresh produce at farmers’ markets. Having the Market Match allows them to buy more.
Market Match is a program of the Ecology Center and is funded in part through the California Department of Food and Agriculture and the USDA’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture. Ecology Center is conducting interviews with small farmers that participate in Market Match. Check out our last interview with Efren Avalos. Market Match prioritizes small farmers because they are the types of farmers that farm sustainably, preserving soil health. Nutrients in the soil pass to plants and up the food chain, and ultimately keeps us fed and alive.
