It will come as no great surprise to learn that the name Mastenbroek did not originate in England. In fact, company founder John Mastenbroek came from Holland in 1959 to break into the UK market on behalf of a Dutch drainage machinery manufacturer.

With a positive response from his UK customers, together with a liking for the country and its people, John Mastenbroek decided to move his family to Boston in Lincolnshire in 1960 where the local Fenland must have made him feel at home. By 1965 he had taken the decision to start his own business selling and servicing Dutch drainage trenching equipment.

An early Dutch drainage trencher sold by John Mastenbroek in the UK.

During those early years in the UK, John realised that the soils were very different from those in his homeland. In fact, he discovered that a drainage machine capable of working successfully in the UK would be able to operate virtually anywhere in the world – an understanding that was to play a major role in later years when he set about developing his own machinery.

Mastenbroek Ltd was first registered in 1970 and, following a parting from the Dutch equipment company, John decided to develop and manufacture his own equipment, with the first trencher introduced in 1977. Although these machines were based on the principles of the previous trenchers, the whole concept and performance was dramatically improved by the introduction of hydrostatic drives to the tracks.

An early Mastenbroek drainage trencher in the UK

It should be noted that the company’s ability to develop all types of new equipment is, to a large extent, due to the expertise of Jack Geelhoed. Jack joined John Mastenbroek towards the end of 1967 as a mechanic, was made a partner in 1970 before becoming joint Managing Director. Jack is a superlative designer with the ability to solve virtually any customer’s problem, this ability has enabled the company to expand into new markets but maintaining a specialisation in tracked machinery

Model 25/20 - Drainage Plow