Machado graduated with a degree in Economics from Stanford University, earned his master's degree in agricultural economics from the University of California, Davis, and in 1988 attended the Harvard Agribusiness School in London. Machado served in the United States Navy during the Vietnam War. Prior to entering the State Legislature, he served on the board of a major California food processor and worked for the Agency for International Development in Eastern Europe and Russia assisting farmers with the transition from a closed to an open market economy.