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 Sullivan, the Director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture. In this episode John talks about some of the challenges facing job growth and internet access in rural communities and discusses the exciting new farming frontier: hemp. Tune in for discussion between John Sullivan and Machinery Pete on how to revitalize small town, rural America. Show Index:[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[ John M. Sullivan is honored to serve as Director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture.John has been involved in agriculture his entire life. Born and raised on a farm in western Illinois, he currently lives with his wife, Joan, on the family-owned farm just north of Rushville in Schuyler County. For 20 years, John was a partner in his family’s real estate and auction business.In 2002, John successfully ran for the Illinois State Senate, representing the 47th Senate District from 2003 to 2017. The 47th District is the largest Senate district in the state, including all or parts of 13 western Illinois counties. During his time in the Senate, John served as chairman of the Senate Agriculture and Conservation committee and worked on many issues that affect farmers and agriculture.John and his wife Joan have four children, three daughters-in-law, and six grandchildren.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.If you'd like to receive new episodes as they're published, please subscribe to the Machinery Pete Podcast in Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts. It really helps others find the show.