Eastern Iowa Farmer Fall 2018

MASCHIO GASPARDO
good state
Steven Franks prepares a shipment in
the warehouse of Maschio Gaspardo.
EASTERN IOWA FARMER PHOTO /
BROOKE TAYLOR
Humble beginnings
“If you work the land, it
will pay you back.”
That is the philosophy behind
Maschio Gaspardo.
Its global network of
production plants and some
2,200 employees is a long
way from its humble beginnings
in 1964 when brothers
Egidio and Giorgio Maschio
started producing rotary
tillers in the barn of their
house. That barn, used as
a mechanical workshop, is
known as the “casetta delle
frese,” or the small house of
tillers. Today the company
is a major industrial group
with operations in Romania,
China, India, France, Germany,
Spain, Russia, Ukraine,
Poland, Turkey and South
Africa.
In 1994 the company
acquired Gaspardo Seminatrici,
a company that began
producing seed drills in 1834.
Lavelli, who grew up near
Venice, started with the company
working in sales and
marketing in 2009, overseeing
efforts in southern Europe
and the Middle East markets.
In 2011, the president of
the company asked if he was
interested in moving to North
America.
He now oversees all operations
in the United States
and Canada, traveling back to
COMPANY:
Maschio Gaspardo North America Inc.
LOCATION:
112 3rd Avenue East, DeWitt, IA
FOUNDED: 1964 in Italy
WEBSITE: maschio.com
Italy about once a quarter to
report on any activities, goals
and strategies related to those
markets. He and Silvia, his
wife, live in Bettendorf with
their four daughters, Letizia,
Livia, Lorenza and Lucia.
“We like it here,” he said
of his family’s planting roots
in eastern Iowa. “DeWitt is a
good place to do business.”
And the operation has been
a good neighbor, Rheingans
said.
She recalled how Maschio
helped out Guardian Industries
when it was going
through a furnace rebuild
and needed extra storage for
products and materials for the
project, Rheingans said.
“They stepped up and said,
‘We have space, and we’re
conveniently located.’ That
was very neighborly and a
very DeWitt thing to do.” n
better state
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1201780
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eifarmer.com FALL 2018 | EASTERN IOWA FARMER 117