The Indochinese Farm Project began in 1982 with 18 acres of land along the Sammamish River. Funded in part by King County and the Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority (Market PDA), the Indochinese Farm project was a joint project of the Washington State Commission on Asian American Affairs and Bethany Presbyterian church. Through the project, refugees from Laos, primarily Mien and Hmong farmers, could lease land for farming at low cost.

In the spring of 1982, 16 families rented an acre apiece for $8 on land in Woodinville owned by King County. They hoped to earn a living by selling their produce at markets and to restaurants and churches. Some were able to pay their rent from their earnings, but many struggled with rent and food money in the first year of the project. It was not unusual for refugee families to go for months without food stamps or other aid because of language difficulties, and lack of knowledge of how the process worked. Food banks were often closed by the time the families returned to Seattle from a long day of work on the Woodinville farm.

Here, Footong Tsoy Saelee (Hmong), left, and Choi Saechao (Mien) sell produce the Indochinese Farm Project's first harvest at Pike Place Market in Seattle.

Caption information source: “Laotian refugees become farmers – then greengrocers” by Karen Hoisinger, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 4, 1982, p. C1