Libsyn Directory

BLP 358: Do you actually know what the Department of Ag does?

Release Date: 12/22/2025

BLP 370: Rolling Coal, an $18M Fine, and Redemption: The PDI Story

Bulkloads Podcast

They fined him $18 million. He built a diesel empire anyway. Jerad Wittwer grew up the son of a St. George milkman and rancher, overhauled his first engine at 13, and turned a passion for horsepower into Performance Diesel Inc. (PDI) — one of the most recognized names in diesel performance. But the road there ran straight through one of the most controversial chapters in trucking: EPA investigations, deleted trucks, and an $18 million federal fine. In this episode, Jerad sits down with Jared Flinn for an unfiltered conversation about the whole journey — the rise, the reckoning, and the...

BLP 369: 1 Gas Station to 1,400 Employees: How Wallis Built a Fuel Empire

Bulkloads Podcast

Bill Wallis went to work at 13 to help his family. He served in the 101st Airborne, came home, and bought a single gas station in Cuba, Missouri in 1968. Today Wallis Companies runs 67 stores, a 42 truck bulk fleet moving 120 loads a day, and employs around 1,400 people. In this episode, Matt and Alan take us inside the fuel hauling world most truckers never see: the predictive dispatch tech, the back to back state safety awards, why their turnover is almost zero, and the tribute show truck they built for Bill called "Blue Collar Roots." CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro: Meet Matt and Alan 0:41 From a K9...

BLP 368: We Doubled Our Trucking Company, Then 2025 Hit

Bulkloads Podcast

Watch on YouTube: Rob and Kate have been together since high school. Years ago they took over the family farm and trucking operation, doubled the business, and then watched 2025 turn into the hardest year of their lives. In this episode they get honest about what it actually takes to run a trucking company as a husband and wife team. The 16-hour days through the freight recession. The financial calls that kept them up at night. The hardest decision they ever had to make. And how they protected their marriage and their kids while fighting to keep the trucks moving. If you run a fleet, drive...

BLP 367: The $1 Million Bet That Built a Trucking Dynasty

Bulkloads Podcast

Tom Keller spec'd his first truck at 20 years old to haul watermelons off his family's farm. He'd drive a load to Indianapolis, not like the price, keep driving to Detroit, sell them, and set the cash on the kitchen table — then do it again the next morning. That hustle became Keller Logistics Group: 350 trucks, four divisions, and $200 million in sales out of Defiance, Ohio. In this episode, Jared Flinn sits down with Bryan Keller and Jonathan Wolfrum to unpack how a melon farmer's instinct for finding the next opportunity built a company that's survived every freight cycle since —...

BLP 366: $10,000 to Replace a $300 Part? The Dealership Trap Explained

Bulkloads Podcast

Watch this episode on YouTube: Fleet maintenance isn't sexy — but it's one of the highest expenses in trucking, the most controllable, and by far the most ignored. Justin Brevik of Bosch FleetMe returns to the BulkLoads Podcast to break down exactly where fleets bleed money on maintenance and how to fix it, whether you run 3 trucks or 3,000. Host Jared Flinn and Justin cover the real cost of letting a truck sit at a dealership, the oil-change myth costing you thousands, why tires are your #1 maintenance expense (and the cheap fix almost nobody does), and how to move your operation...

BLP 365: For This Business, Success isn't Measured in Trucks

Bulkloads Podcast

Watch this episode on YouTube: For Matt and Sharon Kill, the goal was never to have the biggest fleet. But it took growing to 21 trucks — and nearly losing what mattered — to figure that out. The family started with nothing: one truck, a borrowed belt trailer, and a 1950s pay loader that lost steering every time you let off the throttle. After Matt got let go from John Deere, they accidentally built a four-way ag operation — trucking, manure spreading, farming, and feed commodity trading out of Saint Mary's, Ohio. 🎙️ Brought to you by BulkLoads — the bulk freight...

BLP 364: Why This 31-Year-Old Says Fancy Trucks Are Killing Owner-Operators

Bulkloads Podcast

Watch on YouTube: Craig Broerman left a corporate mechanical engineering career, sold the money meant for his grandparents' farm, and bought a belt trailer in 2019. Six years later, he and his cousin Alan Lennartz are running 7–10 trucks across the Midwest hauling DDGs, soybean meal, cottonseed, and industrial products — and they did it before either of them turned 32. In this episode, Jared sits down with Craig and Alan on location in Portland, Indiana to talk about the BulkLoads find that changed everything, the phone call in a North Carolina cornfield that made Craig get out of the...

BLP 363: The $500K Lesson: Inside Blackwell Trucking's Pivot to Hopper Freight

Bulkloads Podcast

Watch it on YouTube: What does it take to run a four-generation family business through cotton, cattle, pipeline restoration, AND a 7-truck hopper fleet — all at the same time? This week we sat down with Bob Blackwell and his son-in-law Jared Reaves at Blackwell Trucking in Wayne, Oklahoma. Three generations of Blackwells have worked this land. Bob started chasing pipeline restoration jobs 25 years ago when one came across his field — and built Blackwell Trucking on the side just to keep his own equipment moving. Then the last four years took a swing at them. Pipeline work went...

BLP 362: From a Coin Flip to 750 Trucks: Inside the 75-Year Wayne Transports Empire

Bulkloads Podcast

Check this episode out on our YouTube: https://youtu.be/hc33VvhAS_I In 1950, a teenager who'd dropped out of school to save the family farm bought one truck and started hauling gasoline. Today, Wayne Transports runs 750+ trucks, moves nearly 290,000 loads a year, and posts driver turnover rates a fraction of the industry average. In this episode, we sit down with the next generation of Wayne ownership to unpack the full story — the Korean War tragedy that almost ended the company before it started, the bank loan that gave it its name, the move from Milaca to Rosemount that unlocked...

The Heavy Haul Operator Riding the AI Data Center Wave

Bulkloads Podcast

Watch episode on YouTube: He started with one truck at 18 years old — and went bankrupt within a year. Most people would have quit. Kendal Mast didn't. Today, KM Wood Products runs 60+ trucks, hauls some of the heaviest freight in the country, and has quietly become one of the biggest players in AI data center freight — with 65% of their entire fleet dedicated to it. But the road here wasn't straight. Kendal rebuilt this company from zero multiple times, survived COVID with his family living in the truck, fired his entire driver pool to save key contracts, and learned million-dollar...

More Episodes

Missouri Director of Agriculture Chris Chinn joins Jared for a deep dive into the realities of modern farming, livestock operations, rural policy, and how government programs actually impact producers on the ground. Whether you're a farmer, livestock producer, trucker, ag student, grain hauler, or rural leader, this episode gives you a front-row seat to the conversations shaping agriculture today.

Chris shares her personal story of growing up in Missouri ag, running a diversified family farm, and balancing life between Jefferson City and the home operation. She breaks down federal aid programs, drought relief, weights & measures, livestock transportation rules, and how technology has transformed production agriculture in the last 20 years.

If you want to understand where Missouri agriculture is right now — and where it’s headed — this episode is a must-watch.

🔥 TOPICS COVERED

• The role of the Missouri Department of Agriculture
• How federal disaster & bridge payments actually work
• Challenges facing today’s farmers: land access, financing, regulations, labor
• Missouri’s diverse ag landscape: cattle, row crops, cotton, peanuts, poultry & more
• The future of family farms and generational transition
• Technology's impact on modern farming
• How MoDOT & Ag collaborate on trucking weight limits and hauling regulations
• Livestock transportation, inspections, and state-federal partnerships
• How small farms can use “Missouri Grown” for marketing & business growth
• The rising age of farmers — and what the next generation needs

🚜 WHO THIS EPISODE IS FOR

✔️ Farmers & ranchers
✔️ Agriculture students (FFA & 4H shout-out!)
✔️ Truckers and bulk haulers serving the ag industry
✔️ Missouri rural advocates & policymakers
✔️ Anyone who wants to understand real-world agriculture

🏆 ABOUT CHRIS CHINN

• Missouri Director of Agriculture since 2017
• Lifelong farmer & livestock producer
• Operates a diversified hog, cattle, corn, soybean & hay operation
• Advocate for rural communities, youth programs, and practical regulatory reform