Hirakata Farms: Life on a Multigenerational Melon Farm

In partnership with: Colorado Department of Agriculture

Hirakata Farms may be known for its production of the world-renowned Rocky Ford melon, but behind the scenes, there’s a humbling story of commitment and perseverance that has kept this generational operation running since 1915.

See more: Colorado’s Top 5 Agricultural Commodities

The Family Business

“Our ancestors started farming this land more than 100 years ago,” Michael Hirakata says. Today, he and his cousin, Glenn, are the primary owners and operators. “Our great grandfather emigrated here from Japan and found a nice place to settle down here in Colorado. We’ve been here ever since.” Hirakata Farms grows and ships Rocky Ford Cantaloupe, watermelon, honeydew, pumpkins and more.

Hirakata is the fourth in his family line to continue the family farming legacy, but he didn’t always know that agriculture was what he wanted to pursue. Like most young people, Hirakata wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with the rest of his life – but seeing tangible rewards in farming has a way of getting under your skin and sticking to your bones.

“When you plant a seed and see the new beginnings of a plant in just a few short weeks, you quickly grow to appreciate this way of life,” he says. “It didn’t take long before I realized how rewarding it was to literally see the fruits of my labor.”

Colorado Agriculture Commission

In addition to his role on the family farm, Hirakata serves as a member of the Colorado Agriculture Commission. Together with a few other local voices, the Commission combs through agricultural rules and regulations and decides how to advise the governor and commissioner of agriculture for the betterment of the industry.

“Serving in this capacity has actually impacted our own farm,” Hirakata says. “I’ve had the opportunity to see what works and what doesn’t in other industries and find ways to incorporate what I’ve learned into our business or advise others. It’s opened my eyes to a larger agricultural world than I would’ve been exposed to on my own.”

Farming Challenges

While his passion for farming runs deep, the more than 1,200-acre farm presents its fair share of challenges. Lately, Hirakata says, the greatest obstacles they have had to face relate to both water and labor.

“For most of the summer, we had to deal with water shortages,” he says. “We would experience weeks of drought followed by storms that covered us in an inch and a half of rain before circling back around to droughts all over again.”

This is particularly troublesome for Hirakata and his family because they grow all of their produce in the fields. “We seemed to bounce back and forth a lot between very wet or very dry ground,” he says. “If we had the option to choose, we would rather have it dry so we could at least control the irrigation ourselves. When the ground is so densely saturated during these storms, it increases the likelihood of decay in our plants.”

See more: Meet 4 Diverse Colorado Farmers

Hirakata says his second-largest struggle has come in the form of employment. “It’s incredibly hard to find labor in our town because it’s so small,” he says. “We’ve hired who we can but supplemented with workers through the H-2A program because there just isn’t a large enough workforce here in our area. Every single year, it feels like we’re short on labor and don’t have enough hands to help us harvest everything we need in the time frame we need it.”

Hirakata is continuously learning and striving to improve his operation in spite of adversity.

Despite the hardships, Hirakata doesn’t have plans to change careers.

“It’s a hard life, but it’s a good life too,” he says. “We have a lot of freedom to run our business the way we want, and I’ve really grown to appreciate farming now more than ever before.”