Greg Peterson (Rochester, Minnesota) is excited and honored to be a new NAFB member.
“No, my mother did not name me ‘Machinery.’ The ‘Machinery Pete’ name/brand just naturally evolved arcing back over my 31-plus years to when I started in November 1989,” Peterson said.
“The mission of my little biz was simple — compile auction sale-price data on all types of farm and construction equipment sold. Of course, there was no internet back in 1989. No cell phones either. The term ‘Big Data’ — nope, not coined yet. But ‘Big Data’ is what I was compiling. Over time, I established a network of more than 1,100 auction firms throughout North America reporting sale prices to us,” Peterson said.
“I began writing a monthly column on auction sale prices and trends with used farm equipment values in 1992. From 1993 to 2000, my column was with Farm Progress publications, then from 2000 to 2013 with Successful Farming magazine, and since July 2013 with Farm Journal. This monthly Machinery Pete column on auction price trends has been a trusted conversation with the farm audience for 29 years,” Peterson said.
TV and radio came later.
“From 2007 into 2013, I did a weekly Machinery Pete segment on the Machinery Show by Successful Farming on RFD-TV. I knew the farm audience wanted and needed more; so in 2013, I launched our own Machinery Pete TV show, which now airs on RFD-TV and on 51 regional TV stations around the country and is seen in 200 thousand farm households weekly. The show wholistically covers the world of farm machinery with emphasis on telling stories and, of course, the latest pricing info and trends. The show can be viewed online at our website www.MachineryPete.com/mptv,” Peterson said.
In 2009, Peterson began pushing his growing Machinery Pete brand/biz out into the new emerging world of social media as once again he sensed the farm audience wanted and needed more on all things farm equipment.
“Stubborn Scandinavian that I am, I had our then 18-year-old daughter Meghan teach this old dog a new trick…how to edit video,” Peterson said.
“Dad, it’s super easy, just sit down and give me five minutes,” she said.
He sat down, listened, and learned.
Since then, he has posted more than 1,700 Machinery Pete YouTube videos with more than 27 million views (www.Youtube.com/machinerypete). His Machinery Pete social media footprint now reaches more than 250,000 users daily via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn.
“In 2014, I partnered my growing Machinery Pete biz with Farm Journal, and we set about reimagining our www.MachineryPete.com website from what it had been from 2000 to 2013 (a place to view auction sale price data) into something much more, something bigger,” Peterson said. “MachineryPete.com now is the second leading farm equipment marketplace in the world, with more than 110,000 equipment listings from farm-equipment dealers, private sellers, and auction firms throughout North America. Currently, we are doing 6.2 million page views per month, and growing.”
“Through the Machinery Pete affiliation with Farm Journal, I have been doing weekly Monday Machinery Pete segments on AgriTalk Radio show since July 2013 as well as weekly Monday Machinery Pete segments on Ag Day TV show. In 2019, we launched the Machinery Pete podcast (www.MachineryPete.com/podcasts). I also blog frequently about auctions, sale prices, trends, tractors, farm folks, and farm equipment news on our website,” Peterson said.
“It has been a most interesting ride for this painfully shy kid from Benson, Minnesota, son of a third-generation farm equipment dealer,” Peterson said. “I was an accounting major in college. I graduated in 1988 knowing I didn’t want to be an accountant all my life. I took my father’s advice to heart: ‘Keep your head on a swivel.’ Opportunities abound. Everywhere. Every day.”
Along my interesting Machinery Pete path these past three-plus decades, the number-one most powerful thing I’ve learned is the power of listening. What a joy it has been pushing forward every day, week, month, year. I am excited for the future. Finding new ways to connect with the farm audience, to help them better buy, sell, trade, and appraise farm equipment. And to tell their stories. Our stories. Also, I am excited, and humbled to be joining the NAFB, an organization with true heart for agriculture and a history for always pushing forward, to tell the story of agriculture. I greatly look forward to connecting with NAFB members,” Peterson concluded.
