Nina Ichikawa serves on the CCOF Foundation Board of Trustees.
Nina F. Ichikawa grew up in her family’s flower nursery business in Contra Costa County, CA. “I saw the challenges of running a family agricultural business and also the possibilities and beauty of it,” she says. “So many customers came to us saying that this tree or that start we sold them provided food for generations.” The Adachi Florist and Nursery sustained not only its clients, but also many generations of her family—the business ran for 112 years.
Ichikawa has nurtured an interest in the intersection of food and environment ever since her early days camping and hiking in the wild beauty of northern California. As a child, she was disturbed that many of her public-school classmates couldn’t afford school lunch or were embarrassed to apply for free lunch. “I became obsessed with solving the problems in our food system while celebrating what is working,” Nina recalls. She went on to study sustainable agriculture and food systems at UC Berkeley, as well as in Mexico and Japan. In Japan, she earned her master’s degree while learning from a visionary group of farmers, researchers and entrepreneurs dedicated to building farm and food businesses that nourished people and soil at the same time. “Organic seems to be the way to do that,” she says.
“I have long respected CCOF and its vision ‘where organic is the norm.’” Ichikawa says. “We should settle for nothing less.” She became familiar with CCOF in previous roles at the USDA’s Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Initiative (under President Obama) and at the Berkeley Food Institute. “My respect has only grown for CCOF and its work. Organic is a foundation that we can build so much on, and I’m honored to join the board and help advance this vision.”
Ichikawa firmly believes in the importance of organic agriculture. “The evidence is unequivocal of the harms of certain pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides on all life: human, animal, and plant,” she says. “This animated my work long before I became a parent, but now that I have two children it only becomes more urgent. All children deserve to grow up in a world where their food and water won’t poison them. We really cannot wait a minute longer to make organic the norm. Organic is one of the most tangible and productive investments we can make in our collective future. I am awed by the creativity and dedication of farmers and food producers, and I hope I can lend my policy and communications background to support their efforts.”