<Begin Segment 23>

TI: So going back, so back in the early '80s, it seems like you created a competitive advantage and actually created somewhat of a cash cow that would generate more cash than you actually needed to service the debt and just do it. And then you plowed that money back into the business and kind of grew on a cash basis, that probably was healthy in terms of a growth model, and just did that over the years. And not only in terms of the infrastructure, the buildings and stuff like that, but also the land that you started farming, because you started with two hundred. We were going around, I think you were saying it's close to 1,500 acres now?

LI: But five hundred is what we owned and a thousand is what we leased.

TI: But even then, back then, when you had two hundred acres, probably, what, forty owned, the rest leased?

LI: Right.

TI: So you went from forty acres owned to five hundred acres? Over ten times that, and the leased land, again, like a tenfold...

LI: And the beauty was, again, when we finally sold to the tribe, we really didn't owe any money to anybody.

TI: Right, yeah.

LI: And that's kind of unusual in agriculture, most people carry a pretty big debt load. Almost any business, many of these businesses have a pretty high debt load.

TI: And so before we go to the sale to the tribe, I'm guessing there was probably a consideration or thinking already you're a three-generation, I guess, maybe four generation, your great-grandfather?

LI: Right.

TI: Probably the thought was, is there another generation left in the Inaba family to continue the farm? And what was the thinking there? Was it a sense that the next generation, so we're Sansei, so there was no one in that Yonsei generation to carry on?

LI: Well, my son was there, but in these past recent years, there's lots of regulation and there's lots of red tape. And all these laws are coming in, and I thought, man, my son couldn't do this by himself. And I'm not sure if it's going to be wise to ask him to, you know. And so we really didn't encourage him to think about the farm, because he didn't act like he liked the farm that much, anyhow. [Laughs] And he was more, one of the privileged kids. He got to go to a private school, and he had a lot of toys that other kids maybe didn't have. And he didn't like to work the kind of hours that we were working. And so I don't know, I just kind of thought, man, I don't know if I really want to do this to him. Because it's not easy and agriculture's getting tougher and tougher. And with all the things, the treatment they were getting from the big chains, they weren't so loyal to you anymore. And the Mexican produce and South American produce was starting to kill us. And it's kind of like, well, I don't want set him up for failure either.

TI: So that makes sense.

<End Segment 23 - Copyright © 2023 Densho. All Rights Reserved.