In the middle of a busy urban center, right off Kamehameha Highway, sits a fourth-generation, family-run farm tucked between the two phases of Pearlridge Mall in Central Oʻahu.
Sumida Farm is located in the ahupuaʻa of Kalauao and has been operating for nearly 100 years, cultivating and harvesting Hawaiʻi’s largest supply of watercress.
In 1928, Makiyo and Moriichi Sumida began growing watercress on five acres of land leased from Kamehameha Schools, supplying local families with a nutrient-rich food source.
Their son, Marsaru Sumida, became the farm’s second-generation manager. He was also the first president of the Hawaiʻi Farm Bureau, founder of the ʻAiea Boat Club, and fought against Pearlridge developers’ plans to pave over the family farm in the 1970s…