greg peterson

Your tractor is your livelihood and when it breaks down that can cost you time and money. Rachel Gingell wants to change that. On this week’s episode of the Machinery Pete Podcast, we’re talking to Rachel about her series of videos that empower tractor owners to fix mechanical issues without taking their vehicle to the shop. Rachel has spent her whole life around tractors and is passionate about helping people care for their equipment as well as teaching farmers what to look for when purchasing their next tractor.

Listen in to learn Rachel’s negotiation tips, how she makes quality video tutorials, and her advice on starting your own business in the ag industry.

Show Index

• [02:38] – Featured tractor Magnum 71-10
• [06:12] – Introducing Rachel Gingell
• [06:45] – Rachel discusses her new book, Farmall Cub Encyclopedia
• [10:16] – You can buy Rachel’s book at farmtractorrepair.com
• [11:18] – Rachel talks about the process of writing the book
• [15:14] – Rachel’s tips for buying tractors
• [16:47] – Rachel shares her negotiation tips
• [19:09] – Rachel discusses her background and what it was like growing up with tractors
• [23:26] – How Rachel got a pink tractor
• [25:18] – What goes into producing a high-quality video
• [30:16] – farmtractorrepair.com also allows you to get expert troubleshooting advice from Rachel and her dad Dan for $14.50.
• [36:15] – Rachel talks about the hardest repair she’s had to complete on video
• [37:40] – Rachel shares her favorite tractor
• [39:41] – Why Rachel left the auction business
• [41:45] – Rachel give advice on starting your own business in the ag industry
• [43:18] – Why Rachel loves fishing
• [44:36] – Rachel talks about her love for motorcycles
• [46:48] – What videos are in the pipeline for Rachel

Machinery Pete was founded in 1989 and has grown from its humble beginnings to a full-fledged marketplace for farming equipment. Greg Peterson, founder and host, has also released Machinery Pete content across platforms including YouTube with his long-running Machinery Pete TV show.

Rachel Gingell is author of the book Farmall Cub Encyclopedia and runs farmtractorrepair.com with her father Dan Gingell. Rachel and Dan produce a popular YouTube channel featuring videos teaching DIY tractor repair.

If you'd like to receive new episodes as they're published, please subscribe to the Machinery Pete Podcast in Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts. It really helps others find the show.

As the old saying goes, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Similarly, when it comes to agriculture, finding new uses for crops is a great way for farmers to protect themselves when seasons or prices are rough. On today’s Machinery Pete Podcast, we’re talking to the creators of Gray Duck Vodka and the Minnesota Millennial Farmer to talk new uses for heritage crops.

Chad Greenway, former player for the Minnesota Vikings, and Jamie Quesnel, one of the owners of Gray Duck Spirits, join Greg to discuss how they created their Minnesota sourced vodka. We close out the show with Zach Johnson, the Minnesota Millennial Farmer, whose corn is used to produce Gray Duck Vodka. Zach talks to Machinery Pete about the opportunities he’s created for himself through his savvy use of social media.

Show Index

• [0:40] – Welcome to the Machinery Pete Podcast
• [01:45] – Guests today include former Vikings player and partner at Gray Duck Spirits Chad Greenway, owner of Gray Duck Spirits Jamie Quesnel, and Minnesota Millennial Farmer Zach Johnson.
• [04:21] – How Chad got involved in Gray Duck Spirits.
• [07:04] – Chad talks about his time as a high school football player.
• [10:31] – How Gray Duck Spirits got its name.
• [10:22] – Chad talks about the feedback Gray Duck is getting from rural farmers.
• [12:51} – Where you can find Gray Duck Spirits.
• [14:18] – Chris discusses his predictions for the Minnesota Vikings upcoming season as well as Iowa State Hawkeyes.
• [16:53] – Machinery Pete introduces his next guest, Jamie Quesnel, one of the owners of Gray Duck Spirits.
• [21:29] – Jamie talks about Gray Duck’s distillation process.
• [22:49] – Gray Duck has only been around for a year but consistently wins gold medals for its taste.
• [23:55] – Jamie explains why Chad has been an integral part of Gray Duck’s success.
• [25:47] – Jamie explains how the brand started out and continues to grow.
• [29:39] – Machinery Pete introduces Minnesota Millennial Farmer Zach Johnson.
• [32:12] – Zach discusses the current farming conditions in West Central Minnesota.
• [33:15] – How Gray Duck is helping the ag community diversify.
• [34:19] – Zach talks about meeting Chad Greenway.
• [35:01] – Zack tells Machinery Pete about his new podcast project.
• [36:24] – Connect with Gray Duck at grayduckspirits.com and Machinery Pete at machinerypete.com

Chad Greenway is a former NFL player who played for the Minnesota Vikings for 11 years. Chad came on board and is a spokesperson for Gray Duck Spirits.

Jamie Quesnel is one of the owners of Gray Duck Spirits. Prior to his ownership stake, Jamie worked in sales for Auto Glass.

Zach Johnson is the Minnesota Millennial Farmer. Zach is a 5th generation family farmer from West Central Minnesota. Zach actively promotes agriculture by sharing his day-to-day experiences on the family farm. The Minnesota Millennial Farmer reaches more than 300,000 subscribers on YouTube alone.

Machinery Pete was founded in 1989 and has grown from its humble beginnings to a full-fledged marketplace for farming equipment. Greg Peterson, founder and host, has also released Machinery Pete content across platforms including YouTube with his long-running Machinery Pete TV show.

If you'd like to receive new episodes as they're published, please subscribe to the Machinery Pete Podcast in Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts. It really helps others find the show.

The Midwest is known for its strong ag community, but have you ever wondered what’s going on with farmers on the West Coast? This week on the Machinery Pete podcast, we’re taking a trip out west to find out what’s happening with our farming friends in Oregon.

Ben Bair of Papé Machinery stops by to talk to Machinery Pete about the wild west of specialty crops as well as his experience moving from a potato farm in Idaho to the hemp and wine fields of Oregon. Listen in to learn about the freedom and risks involved with banking on specialty crops.

Show Index

• [2:17] - Machinery Pete and Ben Bair reminisce on how they first connected.
• [5:05] - Born and raised on a farm in Idaho, Ben’s new home in Oregon is like a foreign country when it comes to agriculture.
• [6:45] - Ben talks about the most profitable west coast crops and how hemp is the agricultural gold rush.
• [7:49] - In addition to hemp, the wine industry is also rapidly growing in Oregon.
• [9:40] - The top crops in Oregon are so fundamentally different than the Midwest that Ben doesn’t know much about current pricing for legacy crops like soybeans and wheat.
• [10:47] - Ben discusses the freedom and risks involved with growing specialty crops
• [12:06] - Local processing is the bottleneck in the current Oregon hemp industry. Farmers are getting creative to harvest.
• [14:51] - Ben talks about growing up on an Idaho potato farm and how that led him to go into the machinery business.
•  [15:50] - Machinery Pete and Ben reminisce on Ben’s grandfather Ron Bair and his mechanical abilities.
• [19:07] - Ben discusses what led him to quit college to focus on machinery.
• [20:41] - Ben talks about how he got started selling machinery and forging relationships.

Ben Bair is the Regional Sales Manager for Papé Machinery in the Willamette Valley. Formerly the Remarketing Manager at 21st Century Equipment, Ben lives and breathes farming machinery equipment.

Machinery Pete was founded in 1989 and has grown from its humble beginnings to a full-fledged marketplace for farming equipment. Greg Peterson, founder and host, has also released Machinery Pete content across platforms including YouTube with his long-running Machinery Pete TV show.

If you'd like to receive new episodes as they're published, please subscribe to the Machinery Pete Podcast in Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts. It really helps others find the show.

Machinery Pete is back with an all new episode interviewing Ralph Lagergren, inventor and entrepreneur. Back in the 1990s, Ralph and his cousin struck gold when they invented the bi-rotor combine and sold the patents to John Deere. Their work inspired countless inventors and a bestselling book, Dream Reaper.

Ralph has decades of experience bringing new products to market and shares his tips and advice for any aspiring inventors who want to get their ideas out into the world. Listen in as Ralph discusses the process that made the Dream Reaper a success and the biggest obstacles that inventors and entrepreneurs face.

Show Index:

• [2:41] - Ralph discusses how he got working on the Bi-rotor combine.
• [9:15] - How Ralphe came into contact with Craig Canine, who wrote the book Dream Reaper about the bi-rotor combine.
• [10:38] - The first time Ralph was recognized by a stranger for his combine.
• [12:54] - Why Ralph has no hard feelings toward John Deere and what’s next for the bi-rotor combine.
• [15:29] - Working with Ethan Eck, a young inventor from Kansas, and how the two got started.
• [19:25] - Ethan Eck is a talented young inventor with great ideas and engineering skill. Ralph talks about what Ethan is up to.
• [21:21] - The role of luck in inventing & Ralphs new venture.
• [24:49] - Focusing inventions on cutting down production time.
• [28:42] - Ralph’s talent for seeing the big picture and getting the right people for each new invention.
• [32:42] - How inventors can be successful.
• [36:38] - Why it’s important for inventors to discuss their work and collaborate.
• [39:20] - The biggest obstacles to making it as an inventor.
• [42:40] - Ralph’s passion project is a game that he’s been working on taking to market.
• [47:24] - Even though his inventions span different industries, Ralph talks about the common threads.
• [49:42] - Ralph is a world traveler and talks about his favorite places in the US.
• [54:57] - How the Dream Reaper book is still inspiring inventors.

Ralph Lagergren is an entrepreneur and new product developer who has worked on projects across various industries. With his cousin Mark Underwood, Ralph developed the revolutionary bi-rotor combine which was sold to John Deere and inspired the bestselling book, Dream Reaper: The Story of an Old-Fashioned Inventor in the High-Tech, High-Stakes World of Modern Agriculture. Ralph is currently involved with Chem Blade and is developing a brand new game called Rage Ball 5.

Machinery Pete was founded in 1989 and has grown from its humble beginnings to a full-fledged marketplace for farming equipment. Greg Peterson, founder and host, has also released Machinery Pete content across platforms including YouTube with his long-running Machinery Pete TV show.

If you'd like to receive new episodes as they're published, please subscribe to the Machinery Pete Podcast in Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts. It really helps others find the show.

Welcome to the inaugural episode of the Machinery Pete Podcast. You’ve come to know Machinery Pete as a trusted resource for buying, selling, and auctioning farming equipment. With this podcast, we hope to listen to folks across small town, rural America and have deep discussions about issues affecting the Ag community.

To kick off this new show, we’ve brought in a heavyweight guest, John Sullivan, the Director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture. In this episode John talks about some of the challenges facing job growth and internet access in rural communities and discusses the exciting new farming frontier: hemp.

Tune in for discussion between John Sullivan and Machinery Pete on how to revitalize small town, rural America.

Show Index:

• [00:11] – Welcome to the new Machinery Pete Podcast
• [04:01] – What you can expect on the Machinery Pete Podcast
• [08:51] – Conversation between Greg Peterson and John Sullivan
• [09:26] – John discusses how he ended up the Director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture
• [11:26] – John discusses his career as an Illinois State Senator
• [13:42] – John talks about being a Democrat representing a Republican district
• [16:15] – John’s experience with farming
• [17:20] – How his experience informs John as Director of the Department of Agriculture
• [19:47] – Current agricultural conditions in Illinois
• [22:00] – The general mood of farmers in Illinois
• [24:19] – John discusses Illinois’ Industrial Hemp Act
• [28:18] – How Illinois was able to implement the Industrial Hemp Act so quickly
• [32:12] – John discusses his initiative to improve broadband internet access in rural communities
• [35:34] – Funding ideas to bring broadband to rural communities
• [36:52] – How broadband is critical to growing jobs in rural communities
• [42:40] – What can be done to entice people to move back to small town, rural America?
• [44:51] – What happens when the population of rural areas declines?
• [48:25] – How to compromise and reach across the aisle
• [51:21] – Why we must listen to the other side
• [58:28] – Why we must embrace change
• [1:01:06] – John offers advice on raising a family in the farming community 

John M. Sullivan is honored to serve as Director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture.

John has been involved in agriculture his entire life. Born and raised on a farm in western Illinois, he currently lives with his wife, Joan, on the family-owned farm just north of Rushville in Schuyler County. For 20 years, John was a partner in his family’s real estate and auction business.

In 2002, John successfully ran for the Illinois State Senate, representing the 47th Senate District from 2003 to 2017. The 47th District is the largest Senate district in the state, including all or parts of 13 western Illinois counties. During his time in the Senate, John served as chairman of the Senate Agriculture and Conservation committee and worked on many issues that affect farmers and agriculture.

John and his wife Joan have four children, three daughters-in-law, and six grandchildren.

Machinery Pete was founded in 1989 and has grown from its humble beginnings to a full-fledged marketplace for farming equipment. Greg Peterson, founder and host, has also released Machinery Pete content across platforms including YouTube with his long-running Machinery Pete TV show.

If you'd like to receive new episodes as they're published, please subscribe to the Machinery Pete Podcast in Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts. It really helps others find the show.

Welcome to the Machinery Pete podcast. A fun visit I'll have with a variety of guests from across a wide swath of the ag spectrum. You know, it's hard to believe it's been 30 years now I've been compiling auction sale prices on all types of farm equipment sold throughout North America. I wasn't really sure back then it could grow into a business. I mean, what did I know back in 1989? I was a 23-year-old kid from Benson, Minnesota, just out of college a year. But I knew in my gut that the whole topic of farm machinery was underserved. Folks in the ag space wanted and needed more and better information and data. So I set sail on this journey to see what I could build.

And I tell you, I've had a ball writing monthly Machinery Pete columns and for national farm magazines since 1992 doing ag TV now for a dozen years, a weekly AgriTalk radio segment, nearly 1500 Machinery Pete YouTube videos and daily social media posts. But folks, we live in a culture of soundbites and short attention spans. I think there's a hunger for longer, meaningful conversations that provide more context. Like when you go to an auction and actually talk to folks and listen to folks you didn't know before. If you're like me, you always learn something new.

So come along with me on the Machinery Pete podcast, and let's see where this gravel road takes us.

If you'd like to receive new episodes as they're published, please subscribe to the Machinery Pete Podcast in Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts. It really helps others find the show.