My father, my brother, and myself all have different planting activities that we are responsible for and we try to synchronize our crews to be as efficient as possible. My father John keeps the tillage equipment on task to prepare the seed bed for our new crop. My bother Kelby manages the earthmoving equipment that precision levels our rice fields. Level fields help us have the most productive field and minimize water use. I oversee the preplant fertilizer and herbicide applications and as soon as my team of applicators leaves, a field the water is applied and the rice seed is sown by an airplane.
The field located next to my house is usually the first field seeded every year. My wife Kathryn, our children Claire and Jack and I all get a thrill out of standing in our back yard while the plane flies directly over our house at over 100 miles per hour, broadcasting the presoaked seed into the flooded basin of water about three inches deep.
This is an extremely busy time of the year for our family and the only part I look forward to more that getting started with planting season is getting done with planting season. Finishing that last field every year gives me an amazing sense of accomplishment and provides a solid foundation to the new crop year and marketing season of our high quality Calrose rice that we grow for the domestic and international premium markets.
Josh Sheppard is proud to be part of the fourth generation of his family that have been farming rice in Butte County for many generations. After receiving degrees in Agribusiness and Water Science from Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo in 1997 he returned to the 3,000 acre family rice operation with his parents, a brother, and a sister. Josh and his wife, Kathryn, have two children.When he’s not on the farm, he enjoys time as a volunteer for the California Waterfowl Association and his children's youth basketball programs.
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