Machinery Pete Podcast

Story behind the famous Silver Bullet Flying Combine from the mid to late 1980's, seen at tons of fairs and shows all over the country + in the movie "Race Against the Harvest" starring Wayne Rogers from TV show M.A.S.H. Machinery Pete talks with Gail Brookins of West Fargo, ND, who along with husband Ernie Brookins built and operated the Silver Bullet Flying Combine. Gail shares amazing stories from the road of the Silver Bullet.

Machinery Pete has a fun conversation with rising star in the #AgTwitter world, Ontario farmer Andy Pasztor (@apasztor82 on Twitter), known as #AndyClean for the wonderfully obsessive way he cleans and shines farm equipment.

Machinery Pete talks about the opportunity he's seen for a number of years now: when selling farm equipment, personalize it to make it worth more $$. Pete shares successful examples of this that he's seen over recent years whether sellers were dealers, auction firms or private farmer sellers.

Machinery Pete learns the story of the beautiful, looked-like-new 1977 John Deere 4430 tractor that was the star of the 2020 National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, KY this past mid February at the John Deere exhibit. Pete talks with owner Don Cummings of Seymour, IN about his 4430, its unique history and the amazing reaction the tractor elicited at the Louisville farm show. Cummings is now considering selling his prize 4430.

Machinery Pete takes a spin around farm country to get the pulse on how the coronavirus situation has been affecting the ag scene the past couple weeks. Pete talks with a trucker from Iowa, an auctioneer from Minnesota who just had two big online farm sales, a friend from the farming town of Fairmont, MN, which has 9 + coronavirus cases, and a farm equipment dealer from Missouri. Pete also provides the latest update on used equipment pricing.

Machinery Pete talks about the COVID-19 virus and the immense impact on the farm auction industry. Pete walks us through the past week day by day as auction firms dealt with unprecedented challenges and rose to meet them to serve both buyer and seller. Pete interviews auctioneers Dan Sullivan with Sullivan Auctioneers (IL) and Allen Henslin with Henslin Auctions (MN) about what the past week has been like. Pete also comments on how used farm equipment values held up over this challenging week.

Engineering is our topic, specifically the field of farm equipment engineering. Machinery Pete wishes he'd have known more about engineering when he was young. Pete talks with Maury Salz, President of CLAAS Omaha, Inc. about their new award winning CLAAS Lexion 8000-7000 Series Combines, but more in depth about the field of Engineering and the myriad career paths forward. Salz went from building tractors and farm equipment to building helicopters before hopping back into the farm equipment space. Salz tells Pete about an exciting upcoming event and learning opportunity, ASABE's Annual AIM event in Omaha, Neb. July 13 -15, 2020. A great chance for young folks interested in Engineering to learn more about the industry.

Tim Brannon, owner of B&G Equipment in Paris, TN has been involved with Allis-Chalmers and AGCO equipment his whole life, even before becoming a dealer in 1978. Brannon shares his wealth of knowledge, history and amazing stories on the iconic Allis-Chalmers brand. Even avid AC lovers will learn a lot from this conversation!

Machinery Pete shares the story of an Iowa family that collects vintage John Deere combines, sometimes very rare ones, to go along with their antique tractor and farm implement collections.

Machinery Pete sits down with Ohio Hall of Fame auctioneer Kevin Wendt, owner of The Wendt Group and also Showpig.com. Kevin talks about his auction career, building these two growing businesses and also about how they purposefully give back in powerful ways, changing many lives for the better in the process.

Tag along with Machinery Pete to three farm auctions in 2019 on which 40-year-old tractors with low hours sold for record or near-record prices, continuing a trend Pete has been documenting for many years.

Machinery Pete talks with Meredith Bernard from Milton, N.C. who is better known as "This Farm Wife" on social media and YouTube. Bernard's vlogs on YouTube about daily life on their North Carolina farm have gone viral and built a huge following both inside and outside of ag, helping to tell farming's story to non-farmers, which is so important in today's world.

Machinery Pete talks with Andrew McCrea, host of the popular "American Countryside" radio program about his new book, "Total Town Makeover" Rethinking Business, Community and Home in Small Town America. McCrea shares success stories of how small rural towns across the country have taken innovative approaches to reverse decades of decline and work toward securing a more prosperous future.

Machinery Pete offers his annual Thanksgiving advice to use your smart phones to record video of conversations with your elderly loved ones at holiday family gatherings. He demonstrates the value of this by sharing one of his all time favorite interviews he's done, from two years ago with then 91-year-old legendary auctioneer and farm equipment dealer Abner Jacobson of Benson, Minn. Abner passed away May 7, 2019 at the age of 93. Abner's stories of the auction and farm equipment businesses in the 1950's and 1960's will make you smile.

When we hear about an older tractor with very low-hours – the first thing we wonder is what’s the back story? On today’s episode of the Machinery Pete Podcast, Machinery Pete is sharing his favorite low-hour tractor stories he’s come across over the last 30 years.

On today’s episode of the Machinery Pete Podcast, we’re highlighting a 2010 conversation with 95-year-old Harold Brock about the history behind the Ford 9N and John Deere 4020 tractors. Harold was an apprentice to the legendary Henry Ford and also worked alongside historic innovators Thomas Edison and George Washington Carver.

It’s not every day that you find a pristine John Deere 4955 with under 1000 hours. But that’s exactly what Larry Holy of Brookings, South Dakota found in the family barn after the death of his father. On today’s episode of the Machinery Pete Podcast, we’re talking to Larry to find out the story behind this unique tractor. You’ll want to grab this John Deere 4955 because it won’t last long. Contact Machinery Pete for more details.

Rachel Gingell has spent her life working with and repairing tractors. Now she’s sharing her tips with farmers on her popular YouTube channel and in her new book, Farmall Cub Encyclopedia. On this week’s episode of the Machinery Pete Podcast, we’re talking to Rachel about all things tractor.

On this week’s episode of Machinery Pete, several guests join us to talk new uses for old crops. Chad Greenway and Jamie Quesnel join us from Gray Duck Spirits, a Minnesota based spirits company using all locally sourced corn to produce their new, high-end vodka. Then we’ll talk to Zach Johnson, the Minnesota Millennial Farmer who has more than 300,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel and grows the corn used in Gray Duck Vodka.

This week on the Machinery Pete Podcast we’re talking to Ben Bair of Papé Machinery. Ben moved from a potato farm in Idaho to Oregon and was surprised by how different the ag industry is on the West Coast. Listen in to hear Ben talk about all the specialty crops being grown out west that have launched an agricultural gold rush.