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.

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