Payne Bros. Ranches, located in Knights Landing, California, is operated by brothers William Payne and Robert Payne. Payne Bros. Ranches specializes in alfalfa, almonds, cucumbers, garbanzos, pistachios, hybrid sunflower seed, tomatoes and walnuts. Robert (Bob) attended U.C. Davis and graduated with a B.S. in Agricultural and Managerial Economics, and William (Bill) received a B.A. in Economics from U.C. Los Angeles. After college, Bob worked as a commercial real estate agent for several years.
After trying out careers of their own, Bob and Bill decided to return home and take over the ranch that their father started in 1953. Bob was drawn back to farming because of the outdoors; he missed witnessing the complete cycle of the plant’s life and the surrounding nature.
Payne Bros. Ranches is all about sustainability; they have an automated irrigation system with drip and micro irrigation, GPS guided equipment, soil microbial supplementation and run an extensive research and development program. They believe that their role as growers is to protect and improve the soil so future generations can benefit from the vital resource. As a grower for PCP, the Payne brothers enjoy that the company puts as much care in packing their product as the farmers do into growing the products.
Bob and Bill currently reside in Woodland, California with their families. Bob and his wife Sally have two children, Lauren, who studies at UCLA, and Thomas, who attends Texas Christian University. Bill and his wife Julie have two sons, Ryan, who goes to Cal Poly, and Taylor, who studies at John Deere Technical School. When the Payne’s are not working or with their families, they enjoy fly fishing for steelhead and trout on many West coast rivers.
Payne Brothers Ranch
