Southern California Farm Gets a Little Help From Hello Kitty and Her Friends - NBC News

Hello Kitty and her friends are embarking on a new adventure this fall in Southern California.

Sanrio, the Japan-based corporate home of Hello Kitty, is partnering with Tanaka Farms located in Irvine, California, for a year-long collaboration where characters — including Hello Kitty, Keroppi, and Pochacco — will serve as ambassadors to the family-run farm.

The characters will join the 77-year-old farm’s educational initiatives on topics like healthy eating, sustainability, and responsible farming, as well as appear throughout the 30-acre property for photo opportunities. They will also be part of seasonal activities like a pumpkin patch, Halloween costume contest, and Christmas tree farm.

“Our target audience is young children. We do a lot of farm tours, and we like to educate them on eating healthy, where their food is coming from. We try to get them to do that at an early age in life and develop those habits early on,” said Kenny Tanaka, manager of Tanaka Farms.

This isn’t the first time Hello Kitty and her friends have ventured into the agriculture space: In 2014, Sanrio opened the Hello Kitty Go Green Organic Farm in Hong Kong. According to David Marchi, Sanrio's vice president of brand management and marketing, that venture inspired the partnership with Tanaka in the U.S.

Each year, Tanaka Farms receives more than 100,000 visitors who participate in tours, cookouts, and the farm’s “U-Pick” program where they can pick their own produce from the dozens of crops the family grows, including romaine, butternut squash, strawberries, carrots, and tomatoes.