Li Schmidt

Founder

Cultural Roots Nursery Founder, Li Schmidt, is a first generation Taiwanese American farmer. She has a decade of organic farming and gardening experience with a Masters in community development from UC Davis. She is also a farmer member of the California Farmer Justice Collaborative (CFJC) and the Asian American Farmers Alliance, which both work towards achieving justice for farmers of color.

Li learned to speak Mandarin and Taiwanese before English from her Ama and Agun, who took care of her as a small child. Throughout her life she’s had to translate the names of foods she grew up eating and search for ingredients that were often missing from the local food system. Her mixed race heritage inspired her to develop stronger connections with her Taiwanese culture through the lens of growing food.

She started Cultural Roots Nursery to not only reconnect with her ancestral heritage, but to help others do the same.