Natural Resources: Farmer
Natural Resources
Farmer:
Dean Okimoto
by Brian McInnis
Dean Okimoto is living proof that a solid education can benefit a person in any line of work - even while tilling earth or pulling weeds in the hot sun at Nalo Farms. He supplies greens for Roy's Restaurants, Alan Wong's, Kahala Mandarin, Hiroshi's, Sam Choy's, and more.
Falling Into Work
Dean Okimoto is living proof that a solid education can benefit a person in any line of work - even while tilling earth or pulling weeds in the hot sun at Nalo Farms. He supplies greens for Roy's Restaurants, Alan Wong's, Kahala Mandarin, Hiroshi's, Sam Choy's, and more.
He didn't always know he wanted to be a farmer, even though it's his family's line of work - both his father and grandfather were into agriculture as well.
"I went to Iolani (School), and my dad didn't want me to be a farmer," he said. "He sent me to Iolani, and expected me to go law school. That was my plan." While Dean did graduate from the University of Redlands in California, he came back home afterwards. "In the long run (my dad was proud), he passed away last year, but he was proud that I was a success. At the beginning, (the income) wasn't that much, and it's like 'I should have gone to law school.'" He laughs.
Little did Dean know at the time, he had found his career calling.
What To Grow
Those first few years working under his father were tough, he admits. "I struggled for probably six years. Off and on, I'd have good years because we were growing and exporting basil at first. But then we got hit by disease, and got wiped out. We started over with something else. If you're adaptable that way, it's more businesslike."
Eventually Dean realized just how profitable greens could be to grow - each crop could be seeded and harvested in a three-week span and the demand from local restaurants was as high as ever. Now, about 70 percent of his profit is just that.
Do Your Homework… And Be Friendly
Dean attributes his success - he employs 26 workers on the seven acres of Nalo Farms - to going beyond the tried-and-true crops an Average Joe would grow and going online to discover new breakthroughs in both growing and marketing.
"I would say outside research that I've done is about 30 percent (of my business). I would say another 40 percent is due to…" Dean pauses. "You need to develop people skills. Then they trust you to buy your product. My best friend today is probably Roy Yamaguchi at Roy's Restaurant. We hang out together whenever he's home. We go out, eat and drink and socialize. But when we do that, I get a lot of (tips). He'll bring back something from Japan and say here, 'grow this', and 'grow this.' And I'll say 'what is it?'" Dean laughs. "He says, 'I don't know, I figured you would know.' That's when you go into the research stuff."
He makes about $250,000 a year in personal income, so all the extra research and connections with people have paid off for Dean - literally.
Get Your Hands Dirty
Make no mistake about it, though, farming is still a very hands-on line of work. Dean put in his time in the field as a boy, pulling weeds as punishment whenever he and his brother would fight. He knows from personal experience that doing the small tasks around the farm can eventually lead to big things.
"Not every kid is going to like this kind of work. No matter what, it's still working outdoors, still hard work. For sure at the beginning, because you gotta know what you're doing. I would say you have to have a passion for it - in whatever you do. I tell all the kids, if you want to go into something, you better enjoy that work. Otherwise you're not gonna be good at it in the long run," So I think that's probably the most important thing. There's a lot of kids out there that don't want to be in an air-conditioned office and sit behind a desk all day. They want to be outdoors, and those are the types of kids that I would say, go that way. You CAN be as successful as that lawyer who sits behind a desk."