Believing and Doing Business in
Kern County since 1895
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Four Generations of Farming
Legacy
The Sill Family’s presence in California began with the arrival of Daniel Sill from Michigan in 1832 as an employee of the Hudson Bay Company. Some years later, he built the fifth building in San Francisco. Which was also his blacksmith shop. In 1839, Mr. Sill built what was the first grist mill in California, also in San Francisco. His son, Daniel Sill Jr. farmed in Northern California and had eight children.
One of his sons, Benjamin H. Sill, was born in Santa Clara, California in 1869 and grew up on a farm in the Sacramento Valley. He became a carriage maker in Marysville, CA. and farmed for Sen. Leland Stanford in Tehama County. Benjamin H. Sill finally settled in Bakersfield, CA. in 1895 and was involved in oil, mining, real estate and the Fred Gunther Company, a farm implement company. He began farming in Shafter, CA. in 1910 on 320 acres. The farming operation has grown to a total of 4,600 acres. Sill purchased a 5,000 acre water storage facility in Fresno and owns over 30,000 acres of cattle ranches throughout California.
Innovation
Sill Properties farming operation is always on the lookout for innovative and progressive techniques to become more sustainable and better stewards of our land and the environment. Our Almond operation uses low dust harvesters and conditioners to help reduce dust particles going into the air. In 2019 we installed a new irrigation method call Deep Root Irrigation that saved 1.5 ace foot of water and produced more than 800 lbs more per acre more than the previous year. We’ve invested in automated spay rigs are safer, more accurate and improves efficiencies across our farming operation. Sill Properties has been farming the same lands since 1910 and these lands are still producing high quality crops.
