About CHS
CHS is a global agribusiness owned by farmers, ranchers and cooperatives across the United States. Diversified in energy, agronomy, grains and foods, we’re committed to creating connections to empower agriculture, helping our owners and customers grow their businesses.
Our businesses
CHS offers a breadth of products and services to support our owners and customers every step of the way. Our practical solutions, local expertise and global connections give our farmer-owners and local cooperatives competitive advantages to reach their goals.
AGRONOMY
GLOBAL GRAIN & PROCESSING
Stewardship
CHS is committed to making a meaningful impact in agriculture and rural America. Through our stewardship initiatives, we invest in programs that develop new generations of ag leaders, promote ag safety and strengthen hometown communities.
Cooperative value
Cooperatives are owned and governed by members who use its products, supplies, or services and operate in many sectors of the economy. In a cooperative system, people come together to scale buying power, gain access to goods and services and create economic opportunity.
Careers
At CHS, our teams work together to provide the products, services and expertise farmers and cooperatives need to feed a growing population. As a CHS employee, you help empower agriculture by creating connections that bring shared success.
Pedal tractor power

Dave Nigg's shop doubles as a display space for his impressive set of pedal tractors and a play area for his grandson, Camden.
Dave Nigg’s fascination with model tractors started small — literally. What first caught his fancy were 1/64 scale toy tractors, less than 2 inches high, but just as detailed as the full-size originals. Then he graduated to 1/16 scale 6-inch replicas before pursuing his true passion: pedal tractors, the dream toy for any farm kid.
“I never had a pedal tractor as a kid,” Nigg says. “I started with one as an adult, then it got a bit out of hand. Now I have 240.”
The retired Browns Valley, Minn., grain farmer began tracking down collectible pedal tractors in the 1980s. Nigg scouts them on eBay, at farm auctions and at the annual National Farm Toy Show, the mecca for pedal tractors, in Dyersville, Iowa.
There’s nothing small about the prices some models attract. In 1949, Eska made a John Deere Model A pedal tractor. It wasn’t very detailed, especially the engine, which looked like a solid block. Only eight were built before the project was scrapped. At a recent auction, a 1949 “block” John Deere Model A surfaced. “It was in pretty rough condition,” Nigg says, but the hammer still came down at $70,000.
That doesn’t mean unexpected finds can’t be uncovered. At a farm auction just 13 miles from home, Nigg spotted a pedal tractor on the sale bill. “I knew it was very rare, the fourth hardest to find,” he says. Despite bad wheels, a bad steering wheel and other issues, Nigg nabbed it and is now restoring it in his shop.
With parts from specialty suppliers and guidelines from pedal tractor collectors books and YouTube videos, Nigg brings his purchases back to their original glory, complete with the right decals and colors.
Since he has acquired about all the pedal tractors he wants, Nigg now makes them from scratch, adding them to a collection that covers three walls of his shop.
Nigg rarely sells his prized collections, leading his wife, Mary, to tease him, saying, “Funeral at 10:00, pedal tractor auction at 2:00.”
“I think she’s joking,” Nigg says.
Check out the full Summer 2021 issue of C magazine with this article and more.