Host farmers for Japanese trainees invited to reunion

It has been 50 years since farmers and ranchers in the Pacific Northwest started hosting agriculture trainees from Japan for up to a year at a time.

Locating all the host farmers for a reunion this July is difficult. Generations have passed and many addresses have changed.

The 50th anniversary for the Japanese Agriculture Training Program is set for July 15 at Big Bend Community College (BBCC) in Moses Lake. Host farmers, and their children, are invited to attend.

Contact the Big Bend Community College Foundation at 509-793-2006 to make arrangements. Formal invitations will be mailed soon, and the list continues to grow.

More than 7,000 JATP trainees have completed the program. They were all introduced to American culture at BBCC before going to host farms according to specialties in areas like row crops, vegetables, fruit, beef, dairy, etc.

Many of the returned trainees have grandchildren older than today’s trainees, said Doug Sly, Public Information Director at BBCC.

Now is the time for host farmers to make contact with their former trainees to make arrangements to get together in Moses Lake this July, Sly said.