asian farm communities growing in the southeast

The new trend in American farming: Asians! This as an interesting USA Today story on the growing numbers of Vietnamese, Korean, Hmong, Laotian and other Asian farmers creating agriculture-based communities in rural South Carolina and the Southeast: Asians become part of farming trend across Southeast U.S.

Nguyen is part of a farming trend unfolding in rural South Carolina and across the Southeast: Growing numbers of Vietnamese, Korean, Hmong, Laotian and other Asian farmers are moving in and creating communities based on agriculture. Nationally, from 2002 to 2007, the number of Asian farmers jumped 40%, compared with a 7% rise in total farmers, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's 2007 census, the most recent of the agency's five-year farm surveys.

Asians still account for just a fraction of all farmers in the USA, and more than half of them are in Hawaii and California. But their numbers are expanding rapidly here in Dixie, according to lending cooperatives that finance farm loans and to the farmers themselves.

It's really interesting to see how and these ethnic enclave sprout up, creating sustainable agriculture communities in areas you wouldn't traditionally find a lot of Asians. Of course, historically, Asian American farmers have existed since the beginning of Asian immigration to the United States. It just fascinating to see how it all comes together in a contemporary context. Anyway, read the article here.