WADENA, Minn. — It was 2010 when Randy Becker decided to use his trucking background and add it to a fledgling farming operation.
When he bought a truck, he found a 1985 Mack Superliner.
“It had been sitting in a shed for about 15 years when we bought it,” Randy Becker said.
Becker Transport
It was mostly stripped down — no cockpit seats, no windshield glass, no lights — but he was able to drive it.
He bought it for just over $7,000, painted it from white to red, and then “had the joy of putting the puzzle together.”
Becker Transport
A dozen years later, Becker says the ’85 Mack is still putting in the miles as Becker Transport has grown into a regional trucking company, hauling cargo such as farm machinery, construction equipment, gravel and grain throughout the upper Midwest from its base of its in the north. – Central Minnesota.
Becker Transport is now a full-time job for Randy’s wife, Jodi, who handles office duties such as scheduling, permits, insurance and payroll.
Jeff Beach / Agweek
That payroll has grown significantly, as the company now has about a dozen employees, most of them full-time, but with some part-time and seasonal help.
The company is up to seven trucks, all but one bought used, has a dozer and backhoe for work and excavation, has a road grader and works on city streets, and even has its own gravel pit.
But it’s still running Mack ’85.
“I’m pretty much the only one running it. It’s the oldest in the fleet,” Becker said. “I’m kind of partial to it.”
Becker Transport regularly hauls in the Dakotas and down into Iowa and as far east as Illinois, sometimes moving farm machinery for dealers. Drivers are usually home every night, but the job isn’t over until the truck is washed.
Bakers often use high school or college students to wash the trucks so the drivers can go home. Becker’s daughter, Lauren, is 14 and is now on truck washing duty, and their son, Luke, 8, will help polish the trucks.
Jeff Beach / Agweek
Randy says part of the original motivation for buying the semi-tractor was to get his grain. In 2010, the Beckers were moving from a farm in Wright County west of the Twin Cities to Wadena County. For a time, they were working in both places, a distance of about 125 miles. And Randy was still making deliveries for other companies in the Twin Cities area.
But 2010 was also the year a tornado hit the town of Wadena. Among the damages was the fertilizer factory. Becker Transport was hired to haul manure between Wadena and another fertilizer plant in nearby New York Mills as part of the cleanup.
“It was something to start with,” said Randy Becker, hauling several loads a day.
When the fertilizer hauling gig ended in 2011, he got his first call from another farmer, Larry Rach of Verndale, who needed oats.
“We’re still hauling his grain to this day,” said Randy Becker, adding that he hasn’t changed his rates for Rach as a thank you for helping the business turn around.
“It takes time to build your customer base,” said Jodi Becker, who grew up in the Wadena area.
Rach, now 75, calls himself a small farmer and appreciates that Becker Transport will continue to look for an operation that some might consider too small to deal with.
“He said, ‘I’ll always carry your stuff into town, so don’t worry about it,'” Rach said of Randy. And Rach wouldn’t have it any other way.
“He keeps his trucks just immaculate and I’m almost proud to have him haul my stuff around town because it looks so cool,” Rach said.
Randy came from a farm family in Wright County that hauled milk for decades. But with the dairy industry in decline, he began driving a truck in the construction industry at the age of 18.
He says they modeled their business after the one he worked for run by Dale and Marlene Scherber. That family ran a dairy farm and took seven trucks of sand and gravel.
“When you worked for them, they treated you like you were extended family,” Randy said.
“You weren’t just a number,” Jodi added.
“So I kind of got a taste of working for a family business,” Randy said.
“At the end of the day, I think you’re better off being smaller; you have more of a personal relationship with the guys who work with you and their families.”
The Bekers are not engaged in dairy farming, but have about 900 hectares of agricultural land. And instead of starting the business on the edge of a booming metro area, the Beckers were starting in a very rural area. Wadena County has about 14,000 people.
Randy Becker said they still have the attitude that they can’t turn down a job.
Randy says another motivation to build their trucking business was based on the advice of a financial advisor who had seen farm families struggle during the farm crisis of the 1980s.
“He said, ‘Diversification is the name of the game,'” Randy said, which also meant not just trucking, and grain hauling is actually a small part of their operation now.
He says they have 11 different trailers, but one goal would be to add and update the trailer fleet to give them more shipping options to continue trucking.
“Trying to get up and do it every day, it’s not hard at all. “If you love what you’re doing, it’s not work,” Randy said. “I don’t plan on ever retiring unless I let myself have fun, but I don’t see that ever happening.”
