History of Japanese Americans in Texas

The Early Kishi Colony: Colony Management

Kishi Colony Management

Much of the colony’s success can be attributed to Kichimatsu Kishi’s excellent business and organizational skills. Although having never farmed rice before arriving in Texas, he had many contacts who were well-versed in rice farming. Even after the colony switched to farming vegetables, Kishi made sure to experiment a variety of crops to see which would work best with the Texan soil without having to fully commit to a certain crop. Kishi’s use of funds on the colony was precise and, in most cases, improved profits from crops: he made an annual $10,000 investment into high-quality fertilizer as well as farming experts to serve as advisors. As the scale of the farm grew, Kishi employed an accountant to keep track of his books, a general manager which ran the farm in his place, and a private secretary to facilitate his own duties. At one point, Kishi hired a marketing expert who travelled across the United States to find the best prices for the colony’s crops. Through all of his ventures as the founder of the colony, Kishi combined a keen sense of business with a flair for innovation. One of Kishi’s successful innovations was the unorthodox method of laying levees to follow the contour of the land. [1]

While the Kishi Colony was famous among other Japanese Texan colonies, inter-colony communication was sparse. Nevertheless, the rice collapse following WWI led to the failure of many farms such as the Onishi farm. This meant that many workers found themselves jobless. The Kishi Colony greatly benefitted as it fulfilled its need for more workers to help with heavily involved vegetable farming by hiring the many who had become unemployed. The Kishi Colony also received a large influx of Mexican and French American workers in the 1920s who were attracted to the Terry community. [1]