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...

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. [:41] - Social media talk and Machinery Pete’s start in it [5:00] - Starting a YouTube channel [11:20] - Spring Price Slasher Sale [12:50] - Interview with Andy Pasztor begins...

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. [:46] - Machinery Pete talks about his love for the personal nature of the farm equipment business [2:15]...

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 co...

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 provide...

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 b...

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 t...

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! [1:32] - Tractor of the Week [6:44] - Interview with Tim Brannon begin...

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. [1:20] - Tractor of the Week [5:25] - Machinery Pete previews interview with Travis Mullenger and Russ Bruhn [7:08] - Interview begins [16:25] - The story behind an unusual 1995 Crawler [12:05] - What do people...

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. [:49] – Machinery Pete previews his interview with Kevin Wendt [4:54] - Tractor of the We...

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. [:53] – Machinery Pete teases his favorite auctions of 2019 [3:23] - What makes the John Deere 40 Series tractors so valuable [5:21] - Audio from farm auction in Crescent, IA on 12/7/19 [8:48] -...

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. [1:24] – Machinery Pete’s Tractor o...

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. [1:20] –...

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. Pete 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 passe...

November 2019 marks the 30-year anniversary that Greg Peterson, better known as Machinery Pete, began collecting auction prices of farming equipment being sold all over North America.  We look back on the history behind why some of these tractors were hardly used, how their value grew over time and what ended up happening to them after being sold at auction.  [03:15] – Stories of John Deere 4450 a...

In October of 2010, Machinery Pete caught up with 95-year-old Harold Brock to talk about his experiences working for Ford and John Deere. He apprenticed under Henry Ford and learned from inventors Thomas Edison and George Washington Carver.  Brock helped design popular tractors such as the Ford 9N and John Deere 4020 and always involved himself with projects in a hands-on manner. His work for two...

Every time we post a barn find, we get a slew of people asking for the story behind the piece of equipment. On today’s episode of the Machinery Pete Podcast, we’ve got a special barn find: a 1990 John Deere 4955 with one original owner and only 958 hours. Larry Holy of Brookings, South Dakota recently got in touch with us to tell us about his father’s special 4955 that has been sitting unused sinc...

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 h...

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 playe...

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...

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...

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 Sulliv...

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-ye...