(upbeat music) - Welcome to A Shot of Ag.

My name is Rob Sharkey, I'm your host.

I'm a fifth generation farmer from just outside of Bradford, Illinois.

I started a podcast which led into an XM radio show, which led into a television show, which led into me being right here today.

But today, today is not about me.

Today it's about Dan Mehochko.

How are you doing Dan?

- I am outstanding, Rob, thank you.

- That is how you say your last name.

- Mehochko, that's how I say it.

A lot of people say it differently, but that's how I say it.

- Most people probably butcher it, don't they?

- It's been butchered a few times.

I'll answer to anything, it doesn't phase me.

- Dan?

- Dan still is good.

It's a good start.

- You're from Morris.

Now, where is that?

- Morris, Illinois is about an hour southwest of Chicago.

- Hour southwest of Chicago.

- Right on 80.

Most people know it from traveling through 80.

- Really?

- Yeah, the big trucks stop there.

So a lot of people stop a lot- - That is where that is, yeah.

I completely forgot about that.

You have been in ag your whole life.

- Been in ag my whole life.

We have family farm and working in ag.

So I've been around it forever.

- [Bob] So you grew up, you were a farm boy.

- Yap.

Well, we grew up, I actually, it's kinda funny.

I grew up in this little, little Italian town, 750 people, all related, but my grandparents lived on the farm.

So we were out there constantly.

- [Bob] Where was that?

It's a little town called South Wilmington, Illinois.

- It's just Italian?

- Yeah, it's I mean, everybody was- - [Bob] Eats a pizza.

- Lots of pizza, lots of spaghetti.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, you were all related so you couldn't get away with anything, but yet you could do a lot.

So it was really cool.

But grandparents were on the farm.

We were out at the farm a lot and spent time, spent all summers out there.

- You moved on though, you've worked in agriculture your whole life, didn't necessarily farm, you did farm some.

- Yeah, we did farm.

I was part, had a farm operation I owned with my father, but I worked, I worked in ag.

I was a trader for a couple of different companies.

I was in- - Yeah, no, no, no, no, because I listen, on the way to the studio here I listened to the podcast and you took that podcast over.

I'm doing the interview in here, Dan.

I'm gonna ask a question.

- I will try.

- And then you're gonna answer.

That's the way this goes.

- All right, I'll try.

- All right, so Dan.

(both laughs) You did go through a litany of different careers, you know, starting out as a repo man.

- I did.

I went to college for two years and kinda worked on the side.

And then I worked for five before I got married and went back to college.

And when I worked for five, it was in a small town, local bank.

- [Bob] Yeah.

- I was an ag loan lender at 20 in the '80s.

- [Bob] Ooh.

- It was tough.

- [Bob] You crushed a lot of dreams.

- I had grown men, on a story, had a grown men crying at my desk talking about how we're gonna get through it, but what- - For people that don't know, early '80s was horrible.

- It was horrible.

- Yeah, people were going bankrupt left and right.

- Yeah, I did that from '84 to probably '89, somewhere in that range.

It was 18% interest.

I didn't, I really didn't think that our generation would be able to afford a house, for instance, because how are you gonna afford 18% interest?

- [Bob] Yeah.

- But one of the jobs I did at the bank was I did repossessions.

So if we had something that went bad, I went out and got it.

I repossessed cars, I repossessed furniture, I repressed a boat.

- Did you have a tow truck?

- My two hands, man.

- What if you go to take a car, there's no keys in it?

- So yeah, there's ways to get keys made, and there's ways to convince people that, you know, it's better if they turn their keys into you, there's a lot of different ways.

And by the way, boats don't need keys.

So I repossessed a boat right off the water.

- It's all making sense now.

You grew up in an Italian town.

- Yeah.

- And there's ways to get things done.

- It comes up a few times.

But, you know, there are ways.

So I did repossessions.

It was a different part of my life.

I was way, my, not maybe my personality, but my temperament was different then.

I'm not, I wasn't the calm and cool person you see.

- I'm not sure calm is a way anybody would describe you.

- I'm probably not, but that's okay.

- You got married.

- I did.

- Way out of your league.

- Way out of my league, yeah.

- Way- - Way out of my league.

- Way out of your league.

- It will be, we will be together 40 years next year.

Married 34.

- Wow.

- And we were together six.

- I was stunned that her sight was intact.

- Yeah, still.

'Cause I figured maybe that was the only reason that you two hooked up.

- I question every day, yeah.

- Huh, okay.

So what'd you do after the bank?

- So after the bank, when I finished school, went back and finished school at Illinois State.

- [Bob] Yeah.

- And then I got in the grain business.

So I was in the grain business as a, I actually started a farmer marketing program for a little bit before joining Continental Grain.

So I went to Continental Grain as a trader and I was in the country for a little bit, and then went to the Chicago office.

- Alright, well, no, people don't know what that is.

I mean, you were a trader or you were like the guys that are on the Ferris Bueller movie that were- - No.

- Doing that stuff.

- So those guys trade contracts, you know, those are paper traders.

- Yeah.

- Commodity traders.

I was trading the cash grain, so I traded cash position.

So I had an elevator.

So when I first started, I just traded a position in the elevator.

So I was buying grain, selling barge grain or whatever.

- So you're talking farmeries.

So again, the elevator is the place, that's the big bins where the farmers all take their grain.

- We were on the river, so we loaded barges.

- Yeah.

- So- - Which is a lot of grain.

- 55,000 bushels, give or take.

- So the 55,000 truckloads.

- Yup.

- Go into one barge.

- Go in one barge.

- That's crazy.

And you're selling that.

- Yep.

So I went to Chicago for Continental and actually traded value added products.

So we started Ohio Corn.

Some people remember back in the '90s.

We had white corn, wax corn, food grade bins, and I was responsible for those positions.

- [Bob] Positions?

- Um-hum.

- So you were- - So what we paid for it premium-wise, what it sold for, so I would people out in different parts of the world selling the products.

And so what we sold it for, what we paid for and how it got to those destinations.

- [Bob] It's confusing.

- It was confusing.

- I mean, you were young.

- I was really young.

- How did you know what to do?

- You just kinda get started and go.

- Did you screw up a lot?

- I screwed up a lot, but- - I mean, one lap, and seriously, when you sell wrong, you're costing that company.

- Yeah, so that's interesting, because I still tell people to this day, when I started both, so when I left Continent, I thought I would be at Continental Grain forever.

- [Bob] Yeah.

- And they sold the grain division to Cargill, and I didn't wanna live in Minneapolis.

No offense to Cargill.

Think they're a great company.

- [Bob] Which one in Minneapolis?

- I just didn't wanna live in Minnesota.

I live as far north as I'm ever gonna live.

- [Bob] Sort of vikings.

- I know.

- Yeah.

- I'm a bears fan, so I couldn't.

Yeah.

- Whew!

- So, but I've always been told for both those companies, I was told that, you know, that the best thing you can have is an opinion.

- [Bob] Yeah.

- Have your opinion, be able to defend your opinion.

So you defend it.

You know, if it's wrong, if, you know, if you lose on a position, then after the fact you can go back and figure out where your thinking was wrong, right.

Did you, you had a supply issue that, or you were working supply/demand and you didn't, one of those sides wasn't right in your thinking.

- Yeah.

- So fix it later.

But have an opinion, defend your opinion.

- And if you do that, they will forgive your screw up.

- Usually, a couple screw ups, they'll forgive.

- Okay, you have gone the gamut.

You have, as far as like trading commodities, you have been at the top of the top.

What are you doing now?

- So I left, so went to Continental then Louis Dreyfus.

Louis Dreyfus, I went to Growmark.

- [Bob] Louis Dreyfus.

- Yeah, go ahead.

- Shoot, it was the dad of Elaine on-site.

- It was, it was, yeah.

- Julia Louis Dreyfus' father- - You worked for her.

She seems nice.

- I wish- - She seems like if you're at a party, she would tell you if you got something on your shirt.

- Think so too.

- Yeah.

- And so her and her husband met at Northwestern.

Did you know that?

And their son played for Northwestern basketball.

- The Elaine from Seinfeld.

- Uh-um.

- I didn't know that.

Could you have her number?

- Maybe later, I can give it to you.

Now, I never got to meet her.

And in fact, I only met her dad a couple of times.

So he ran the company at the time though, but it is family-owned business.

- [Bob] Big business, big, big company.

- That's a big company.

So anyway, worked for Growmark for 10 years as a business relationship managers, just working relationship with our members.

- [Bob] Yeah.

- And then just this past spring, I went to work for Bushel.

And so Bushel is a tech startup company, ag tech startup company, focusing in ag.

They focus on the relationship between the elevator and the grower.

So they bring digital solutions to bring information to growers.

- You're kind of old to be in a tech company.

- I am, I think now I am the oldest person at the company.

- But I wouldn't say that would be a safe bet.

- So it's interesting.

I'm sure I drive them nuts some days.

- [Bob] Yeah.

But do they need that old grumpy guy to remind what their customers want?

- It's a little of everything, right?

I have the relationships.

I have the relationship with all those companies that we're doing business with.

And so that helps.

And then I also have the farmer's perspective, being part of the farm operation.

And I bring, you're gonna be shocked by this, but I might bring a calming part to it because of my experience in the business.

(Dan chuckles) - Calming, calming.

- That's a word you would not put with me, right, it's calming.

- I wrote it down.

- Ah-huh.

- Okay, it's like the Wild West with the apps and the tech companies.

- It is a little bit.

It's a little crazy 'cause- - And they're making a ton of money.

Some are.

- Some are doing well.

And then some last 'til the money runs out and then they go do something else.

- That's part of a pivot from trading all these years and being in Growmark to an app company.

- It's one of those things where you get to an age and you're still pretty hyper like I am.

And so you gotta do something.

I need a new the challenge.

I'd met one of the founders.

I know both of the founders for quite a while, but met one and we had a really good relationship.

We've talked for a long time.

They asked a couple of times and this time I just, I was really at that point where I was ready for another challenge.

Ready for, you know, I don't wanna say the last challenge, but another challenge before I- - Do you take lot of coffee?

- I have never tasted coffee in my life.

- What?

- Never tasted coffee.

- This is water in here.

- You never drank coffee?

- Never drank coffee.

- How does all this happen?

- It's just, it's natural.

I might have a few energy drinks once in a while, but it's pretty natural.

- The Red Bull.

- I'm a Red Bull sugar-free guy.

- Okay, all right.

I like the Monster- - Not every day.

I'm a Monster ultra guy, if I have monsters.

- Yeah.

- One of those two.

- You might wanna cup back on that.

(both laughs) Do you like it, working for the Bushel?

- I do, I do, it's fun.

Yeah, it's really interesting.

Like I said, I'm sure I drive them as nuts as some days they drive me, just the differences, but it's been a lot of fun, really interesting to learn new things.

- Okay, we had you on the podcast over a year ago, or listening to it, we were first talking about COVID.

- Kinda surprised that it's still your number one podcast, which is awesome.

- That surprises me too.

(both laughs) That was a time where the film was coming out called "Silo," which was made by Sam Goldberg in New York.

And it was about a grain entrapment.

That's when people get caught inside grain bins.

A lot of people don't know that grain bins are extremely dangerous if you go inside of them.

You opened up and you talked about your father-in-law.

- Yap.

- You wanna share that?

- Yeah, my father-in-law, 27 years ago, it would be 28 years ago in January, was killed in a grain bin on one of the family farms.

And he had just been to our house a couple nights before.

And then that day I was at work, I was working for Continental, and he went in the bin and, you know, had to be taken out after we cut the bin open.

And so we didn't talk about it for a long time.

It's just one of those things.

We ended up, my wife had a younger daughter, her younger sister that we ended up raising because of that.

Their mom had just passed away nine months the day before that.

And so it really- - Wow, say that again.

- Yeah.

Their mom had just passed away.

My wife's mother had just passed away nine months to the day before their father was killed in the grain bin.

- Ouch, ow!

- Yeah.

And so rough time.

But you know, we just, we didn't talk about it much.

The incident itself, you know, we just kind of moved on 'cause that's what we had to do.

And then as more and more people that I knew, you know, either were entrapped or got pulled out.

I actually, I'm up to four people that I know that have been lost in grain bin.

We were just talking, I think we said five.

I think I'm six now, four people that have been lost in grain bin.

- [Bob] When we did the podcast, you said four.

- Yeah.

- Unfortunately.

- Yeah, now we're at a fifth.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

And so, and a really good friend of ours and then just, you know, it just, I don't know.

You think nothing's gonna happen to you.

You think you're the person that comes out of it.

And I'm gonna tell you that it doesn't take very long and you will not be the person coming out.

- Yeah, I've done it.

I don't like to say it, but I've gone inside there to, what happens is the grain is coming down.

Generally, some bad grain or something, it covers the hole that is emptying out and people go in there and then stuff comes down.

- They think that's what my father-in-law did.

He had a, there was a pipe hooked to the ladder and he'd either used it holding onto it or he'd used it to try to unplug the sump.

And, you know, unfortunately it just happened so quick, and that was it, so.

- Yeah, and it's not a deal like you can be pulled out.

If you get, like up to your waist.

- Yeah.

- And I remember my dad was in one.

Now his feet were on the floor, so it wasn't a big deal, but he was like to as mid thigh.

And I really ripped his jeans 'cause you cannot pull them out.

- You cannot.

- It's crazy, the suction that goes on there.

You spoke a lot with your past job and you would be open and you would talk about this.

I mean, tell me about that because that couldn't have been easy, to open up or something personal to people you don't know.

- Yeah, it's just, it kinda started a couple of years ago when an incident happened and I, you know, the "Silo" was coming out.

And I, my wife and I talked about it, we said maybe now is the time I did a lot of public speaking.

I did a lot of market outlooks and market talks.

Now's the time to start talking about it.

And I wanted it to be, I didn't wanna be something I just did without talking to her and she was all in favor of it.

So what I would start doing is at the end of my talks, I would say, "Can you just give me five minutes?

"I wanna talk about this."

And then it kinda went on and got, you know, 10, 15 minutes at the end.

It was really good for me.

It really was, because I got to talk about it, and not just relive it, but kinda talk about what all went through my day.

And that's what I did when I talked about it.

I would just, all I can tell you is what my day was like that day.

- So it actually helped you.

- It did, yeah.

- Huh, though were you expecting that?

- No, not really.

Because you know, I just kinda thought, I don't wanna say we were over it, but it would have been enough years that we just kinda moved on, but it did help me.

It, I don't know, it was just different.

It was just little therapeutic that, you know, you could talk about it.

And my day was, you know, I was on an elevator working for Continental.

I got a call to come to the farm, that there'd been an accident.

And when I got there, my brother-in-law just started teaching.

Somebody had called him.

He was there, the ambulance had just left, so I had to go to the hospital and I actually had to go identify the body after, because it was an accident.

And so just kind of the whole day and what it went through in the next couple of days of, you know, there was eight to 10,000 bushels of corn on the ground at the farm.

I had to, you know, it's amazing people wanna drive by an accident scene.

- They cut the bin open- - They cut it in three spots.

- Yeah, I don't like that.

- I don't, either.

- It is something that, I don't know if it's just rural people, but they will drive by to see what's going on.

- It's crazy.

So my grandpa was still alive.

I'll never forget, my grandpa was still alive at the time.

And as I pulled in, I said, you know, to one guy, he said, "We'll take care of the corn.

"We'll get it cleaned up."

And I looked at my grandpa, I said, "Go get a couple of fence posts, "get a chain across this driveway.

"I don't need people driving in and out of here."

- Yeah, yeah.

You know, I think it is because some people wanna help, but it's- - I think so.

- Better off just to- - Just let it be.

- Let it be.

- Yep.

- So this happened, you and I were in a Illinois ag leadership class together.

It was 30 people, a very close friendship.

And those 30 people, who are still very close today, and we got a group chat and just talk really regular and we get a message, you know, prayers.

And one of them was in a grain bin and it doesn't look good.

- Right.

- So tell me about that day.

What did that mean to you?

- So yeah, it was crazy.

I saw that on the chat and I called a really good friend of mine, he's the general manger of a grain elevator in that area.

And actually he called, I get a weird call one night late.

This was several months before.

And he said, "Hey, you know this guy, Brian story?"

I'm like, "Yeah."

And he said, "We're standing in a bar "And there's a bunch of us around," truly and some others.

And they said, he said, "What business are you?"

And I said I run a grain elevator.

And he goes, "Oh, really?"

You know, (chuckles) and Dave said, you know, "It's not the first time it's happened, "but I was just shocked."

And so anyway, I call Dave and I said, "Hey, I just got this chat, what's going on?"

And he said, "Oh, can't be, he was just here."

They were doing a crop tour and he had just left, you know, talking to Dave about, you know, they were doing some crap estimates.

And so it was just crazy day.

And then just kinda reliving the whole thing, right.

I mean, I've had a few people I know get pulled out and make it, but odds are you're not coming out of there, right.

They're taking you out and that's it.

And so it just, I don't know, it's just besides missing him and not being able to text him and have different conversations, it's just, I don't know, I beg people, you know, really think before you get in, just stop and think about what's, you know, what could happen and what you're gonna miss.

That's my message out always.

- Extremely smart guy.

- Yeah.

- I had a great family, everything to live for.

Like I said, I've done it.

I've got into sticky situations, luckily did not get caught.

What's it gonna take for farmers not to go in grain bins?

- I don't know.

I just, I think it, I would guess, well, I say this, that someone close to you, you know, something has to happen you, almost, right, to wake you up.

It's the same way with a lot of different things you shouldn't do.

But yet in our area, just two miles from the farm my father-in-law passed away on, a guy, now, he made it out.

But same thing, one of his best friends, you know, same age gets in a bin and they have to pull him out.

Now, he made it, but the message didn't even get to him, right.

He still thought it's not gonna happen.

So we just have to keep preaching and preaching and educating people what can happen.

- A really good thing with that movie, "Silo," which was done, and they were doing the private screenings, and unfortunately COVID shut all that down, because I think that was really getting through there.

So maybe stuff, you know, making it personal like that and that, but let's switch gears to something more fun.

- Okay.

- Tell me about, (metal dings) tell me about this.

- So that is my granddaughter.

So, my first granddaughter, she's 26 months now, but my wife.

- Grandpa.

- I know.

Pap, she calls me papa.

- [Bob] Papa?

- Yeah.

You don't need to do that, but it's fine if you did.

I don't care.

- It's all right.

- Kind of endearing.

- Yeah.

- But anyway, that's her footprint.

And so they made it like a John Deere tractor, cause we ran green equipment.

And so I thought it kinda signified where I'm at right now.

I'm at grandpa.

We still have farms.

We don't farm anymore, we rent them out.

But, you know.

- To wearing all blue, too.

- Yeah.

- It's kinda like Papa Smurf.

- Yeah.

- I don't know about that.

(Bob laughs) - I don't think that resonates well, but that's a thank you.

- I had one guy tell me one time, I wish I could have just skipped having the kids and gone straight to grandkids.

- Oh my God, it's unbelievable.

- Really?

- It's that, so that first morning, she was born about 9:30 that night, or one night or something, September 12th.

And, (both laughs) my daughter will kill me.

- Don't worry.

- My wife will kill me.

- Nobody's watching, is fine.

(both laughs) - Anyway, that morning we're down there, the next morning, and that first time you look at your grandchild and hold them, it was amazing to me how quick nothing else mattered.

I mean, I had no other concerns.

And she could literally, you know, when she says, you know, like it, first she's real shy, right, 'cause COVID, they're not around people for a long time.

- [Bob] Oh, yeah, yeah.

- And so she grew up, her first year was pretty sheltered 'cause you had to be.

- [Bob] Yeah.

- And now they actually moved up by us.

And so we see, my wife babysits Mondays and Fridays.

So she's over at the house and she thinks her pap is pretty cool.

- I could see that though, because when you have your kids, right, for the first time, you're holding them, and I'm like, man, I'm gonna screw this up big time.

As a grandparent, you're probably like, well, I'm just gonna let your parents through your life.

- Literally, whatever you ask for, I'll make up here.

- Your kids have done really well.

You got to tell me the education, where'd they all go?

- So I have, we have been to a lot of schools.

So my oldest is Illinois State and Ball State.

She has her master's in public relations.

Her husband is Alabama and Illinois State, master's in communication.

Second one is Illinois Wesleyan, nursing.

U of I master's in nursing, Vanderbilt, nurse practitioner, And now Vanderbilt, doctor, nurse practitioner.

- Is Vanderbilt an Ivy League in that?

- Ah, it should be.

- It isn't it?

I thought it was.

- If it is, so there's, so I know this with my last one, my son- - [Bob] She probably charged like- - Yeah, my son's a junior at Notre Dame, but we visited Ivys.

And there's public Ivys and private Ivys.

I didn't know that.

- I never had to worry about that.

- So if it is, Vanderbelt would be a public Ivy.

- Okay.

- I think.

- Okay, I don't know.

- It's a nice school, let's just say that.

- I went to Southern, they were poisoned.

- Yeah, so did you go to Southern?

Just the rumor was you went to Southern just because you were all mixed up with the numbers, the letters, 'cause you wanted to go to ISU and you went to SIU.

is that, that's the story.

That would be a better story than actually what happened.

Is no, I was dating Emily and she went down there, and I was like, wow, better get down there.

- So you drove down, couldn't figure out your way back and thought, I might stay.

- That's pretty much it.

I don't think they even really accepted me, but they cashed the check.

(both laughs) So you've kind of done it all in agriculture.

- Yap.

- Looking back, right, you got some young guy or girl coming into it, some punk, right.

- Yap.

- And they're gonna ask you what should I do?

What should I really focus on as I'm starting my career?

What do you say?

- Communication, because relationships are everything, being able to build and maintain relationships.

And that's in, you know, you've heard me say it 1000 times, but we're always selling.

everything in life is sales, we're always selling.

You're either selling yourself or a service.

And so communication is key, relationships are key.

I would, I like to tell kids, you know, what you don't, what you miss on the grain side of it is everything trades.

So if that appeals to you, if that's kinda cool to you, if you like math, if you're a quick thinker, you know, everything trades.

Like we talked about loading barges, the first elevators at, you know, the barge freight trades.

the barge itself trades.

The grain going into it.

You can buy and sell.

It's just, there's a lot of opportunities there.

So, you know, just don't be afraid to look at ag because there's literally nothing you can't do in agriculture.

- What about pivoting?

Because it seems like you've done that very successfully throughout your career.

- I don't think you should be afraid to look at different other challenges.

Just go for it.

What the heck?

- Like a tech company?

- Yeah, like a tech startup company at age 57.

- That's crazy to me.

It's like, I don't know, you should be doing like hacky sack at work now.

- So they handed me a MacBook my first day.

I looked at the girl and I said, "This is gonna be tough for me."

I said, "I've had an iPad, "but this is gonna be tough "because I've been a Windows guy since the beginning."

And she said, "Oh, since the beginning of your career?"

And I said, "Since the beginning of Windows."

And she was baffled by that.

- Do they talk loudly to you?

This is the on button, Mr. Mehochko.

- They help me with a lot.

They have a lot of patience with me.

That's a great company, it really is.

Started by two young guys in their dorm room in North Dakota State University.

- Yeah, one thing, I mean, you don't sell yourself short, you worked very hard your whole career.

I mean, you've been hustling a lot of time away from home in that.

And it's nice to see that you've kind of balanced things out.

- Yeah, it's been, I give my wife a lot of credit.

She did a lot of the work at home and a lot of patients for those times when I said I gotta be on a plane and go here.

You know, with Dreyfus, there'd be times I'd be at a citrus plant in Florida and I'd have to go to Seattle the next day.

And she would meet me, literally this happened several times, meet me at the airport with a different suitcase so I'd change the clothes to go to Seattle.

And I mean, she put up with that and she really is the, she's the strength behind it.

- Oh, yeah, she's a lot better than you.

Are you on social media?

- I am.

I am at just on Twitter @DanMehochko.

I don't do the other ones, I just- - You spell Mehochko.

You need a TikTok.

You need to drink your first cup of coffee at TikTok.

- Let's do a joint TikTok.

- Let's see in the show.

(both laughs) Dan Mehochko, it's been a lot of fun getting to know you over the last few years, and you're very successful.

You're a great family guy- - Thank you.

- And it's fun to see good things happen to good people.

So, yeah.

- You as well, I'm super proud of you too, by the way.

I know that, you know, you're gonna get emotional now, but- - Now it's awkward.

- Super proud of what you've accomplished.

- Oh, look, oh, look (indistinct) to wrap it up.

Dan, thank you very much.

Everybody else, we'll catch you next week.

(upbeat music)