This is a series to share stories of students relating to Asian American seeds and their perspectives and backgrounds. It is also to explore student interests and aspirations in pursuing work in current and changing agricultural landscapes and social and cultural environments. Emily generously shared her experiences that has shaped where she is today, and the meaning of this connective work for her, in this mix of a Q&A and feature article.

Emily Seoyoung Chung is a 3rd year undergraduate student majoring in Agricultural and Environmental Technology with a concentration on Energy and Environmental Technologies. She currently is a Lead Student Breeder with the Student Collaborative Organic Plant Breeding Education program (SCOPE), and also works taking care of young plants as a greenhouse and field assistant for the walnut and pistachio breeding lab.

Her development of her involvement with plants

Chung grew up continually exposed to caring for plants. “I always loved nature, greens, and the trees,” she said. At home, her grandfather would do small-scale farming as a hobby in the backyard, and her grandmother was really into flowers and gardening, so she was "always roaming around and helping things out.” It was also developed by environmental education. From elementary school to middle school, she attended a Waldorf school in Korea. The school provided a lot of hands-on learning spaces where she had farming classes and grew rice, as they are commonly grown in Asia with its roots submerged in water. In tenth grade, Chung went to a small boarding high school in the U.S. of about 80 total students that was "very outdoorsy," as they did many hiking and backpacking trips, for example. At the school, she experienced farm-to-table eating, where students harvested the organic produce grown at the school’s farm.

Q: What is your love of plants/crops/food?

A: When I was deciding my major, I didn't really know what I wanted to do as a major, which I think is so fair; like who, sixteen, seventeen years old, does know what they wanna do for the rest of their life? But I knew that I wouldn't hate working with plants and farming, so that's how I chose my major here.

I chose farming over plant sciences because I liked the next step of growing plants and then distributing them to people. I felt more touched by the idea of having a direct impact on people. My big passion comes from seeing other people happy, and I think agriculture fulfilled that more than just plant sciences–but I love plants too.

At the UC Davis Student Farm, Chung interned beginning at the Market Garden for two quarters, and then when programs were hiring in the spring, she applied for SCOPE’s Lead Student Breeder position and started in the summer 2024. While she liked Market Garden, she wanted to do something new, and SCOPE's goals seemed distinct and different from what she had done before. SCOPE is where Emily got introduced to the interdisciplinary project that existed with the Asian American Seed Stewards Lab.

“When I learned about the celtuce project within SCOPE, it interested me because it also had a cultural purpose other than just breeding. There is the Asian American studies topic into it, and I thought that was unique and something I would like to connect more with.” She really enjoys what she gets to experience in the project, with outreach to Asian farmers and restaurants for potential collaboration with their growing and breeding, and seeing the value it holds as an Asian crop in America. 

Around SCOPE’s work, Chung also learned about collaborator Kristyn Leach, who is a prominent activist in the Asian American farm community, and Professor Ga Young in the Asian American studies department. She said, “when I meet people like them, I get very excited because it is a rare opportunity to be able to communicate and connect with adults who are passionate about the topics that I constantly think about.” To Chung, they are like models who she can look up to because they share lived experience of being East Asian American women in agriculture and are also very knowledgeable in areas she is interested in, such as food sovereignty and the agricultural industry. 

Being Korean and in agriculture

Young people going into agriculture and intergenerational dialogue about the future generation sometimes bring up expressions of it being difficult mixing passion and importance for it with its economic incentives. Asian agricultural producers are also among the minorities in the U.S., and have specific contexts that have shaped their relations to land. 

Chung said that she has never met any other Korean or Korean American students in plant sciences or agriculture, and has only met one person who pursued a bachelor degree in Agricultural Education. “I notice that it's hard to find people like me within my age group who pursue this path, like a Korean American, or someone who's from Korea. I think it would be interesting to think about what brings people into agriculture.” Additionally, while her grandparents like gardening for fun, farming has never been something her parents do nor has it been considered as a career path in her family.

Chung’s transnational Korean and American experiences in agriculture also adds to her growing knowledge and perspectives. “Right now, I don't have many opportunities to bring the farming knowledge that I learned from Korea to here [in the university], but I sometimes think about the farming tools that we use in Korea that we could possibly use here,” she said. “For example, there is a farming tool called Homi to dig the soil when planting. Those types of tools I think are so useful, and I wish we had it here.” 

Connection with supportive community members and culture 

As Chung had moved to the US in ninth grade by herself and has lived in different parts of California without her family for seven years now, she accumulated observations and experiences with race and ethnicity. “I found myself to have a lot of interest in being bicultural, bilingual, and peoples’ dynamics with it.” She also understands the importance for her to be connected to or exposed to her cultural roots “because it gives a lot of sense of belonging, it makes you more secure and have a place, and helps solidify your identity,” she said.

Chung said that having even someone who looks like them could have a huge influence on the younger generation. Finding an adult figure to get advice from who might already know what you’re thinking or talking about because they share a cultural and/or racial background, is important. “Especially with Professor Ga Young, who is Korean and raised in Korea, then moved and settled in the United States and is pursuing higher education…it's really difficult to find people like that for me.”

For example, in her experience in boarding school, faculties would often open up their houses to offer snacks and a hang out space to students. “I felt the need of having an adult figure from being one of only two Asian girls in the high school, with barely any faculties who were people of color. I always wanted an Asian adult who I could talk to” … “It would have been so nice if there was a faculty who looked like me, who could offer some Asian snacks or cultural activities that I can connect to. I imagine how much it could have meant for a sixteen-year-old me, living in a boarding school while my family is across the Pacific Ocean.” 

Q: You talked about building community. What does community look like to you, and relating this with Asian crops and seeds, what meaning do they hold with you?

A: I think seeds and Asian crops are a tool that bridges people together. Because food is such a big part of Korean culture, seeds naturally come into play, and naturally is a great way to connect to one another. Even if you are not the immigrant who moved from Korea, if you grew up with Korean immigrant parents, it is common that you grew up eating Korean dishes. I feel like you must have at least some nostalgia to the dishes you used to eat as a child. Having a group of people who you can share the taste with, and share the crops that are used to make those dishes is a great way to find a sense of belonging, and I think that's what makes the community. 

Future prospects

Q: If you could be engaged in meaningful stuff, like in the ideal, or if you have a dream food system and situation you were in, what would that look like? 

A: I think the work that Kristyn Leach does is amazing. Honestly, I would love to pursue a similar path. When I saw Gohyang Fields’s Instagram where Kristyn Leach worked, I learned that they hold rituals and celebrations that are Korean traditional practices. I think being able to host that, invite people, and form a community while running a farm as in growing crops and distributing that out…I think that is very powerful. Like, look at this! [video of Chuseok celebration at Gohyang farm] I know how to play these traditional instruments. I used to play that. I think it would be so cool and so meaningful to play the instruments in the land of America. 

Another interest of hers is running a farm and being the local distributor, or urban farming. “I would want to grow really tasty strawberries indoors in a city where space is more limited and be the local distributor, because the strawberries are not as good here from exporting,” she said. Chung would use efficient technology to adapt to the limited space and manage a controlled environment. However, she claims that “at the end of the day, whatever I do, I hope it has a positive influence on people's lives. Even if I don't do agriculture, I want people to enjoy or benefit from what I make or do. That's ultimately what I care about.”

Q: This is more of a fun question, because I know your life is more holistic, and we also talked about food. What do you eat right now, when do you cook for yourself?

A: Recently, I started to live off campus in the summer of this year. At home, I used to help with cooking, but I never did it myself, so having to cook on my own since summer has been actually really enjoyable. Especially during breaks, I would make a lot of Korean dishes. I made Kimchi on my own over winter break and it turned out really great, and I'm really happy about it. When I don't have time, I just make fried rice that is Korean style. I also get a lot of produce from the farm. I don’t do anything special, but whatever I end up making ends up being kind of Korean, because of the seasoning and the style that I have seen by helping that I'm familiar with.