OFI 1202: Replay: How A Value Added Product Saved A Family Farm | FFA SAE Edition | Logan Schlaugh | West Holmes High School FFA

Not much has changed when it comes to using the term “value-added” since the first time I aired this interview with Logan Schlauch who is benefitting from the trend in adding something a little extra or giving the consumer a little more while, in this case, a dairy producer can add to his bottom line. Here is the story of one small dairy operation that got creative and created a value-added product in order not only to help with profit margins but to also appease customer demand for greek style yogurts. Additionally, this project has served as an FFA learning experience for Logan Schlauch.

Here are the original show notes:

The term value-added is thrown around in every circle of agricultural education as well as any classes or seminars that you might take on starting your own farm business. The question is, how often do people follow this advice, and how often does it work?

Logan Schlauch has grown up on his family’s multi-generational dairy farm in Ohio. They don’t milk that many cows, only about 40. So this means that when profit margins shrink on milk production, they don’t have enough volume being produced to fund the farm. This is a really big challenge for small dairies.

The first suggestion that an ag economist would make to an operation like this would probably be to create a value-added product. Logan’s family decided to follow this advice. They looked around and saw that many other dairy farms were producing cheese and ice cream. But, they did not find anyone producing yogurt. So, Velvet View Farms Yogurt was born – available in original, strawberry Greek and blueberry Greek.

The move to producing yogurt has been the move that was needed to save this farm. Today, Logan is involved in every aspect of this from milking the cows to adding the culture to create the yogurt. He does deliveries and he does the farming. He is learning the entire process from beginning to end.

All of this work and a great record book have led Logan to become a national finalist in agricultural processing. There is a lot to be learned in this episode both for a farm that is just starting out or for one looking to survive.

SUPERVISED AGRICULTURAL EXPERIENCE: Yogurt Production

HIGH SCHOOL: West Holmes High School; Millersburg, Ohio

MASCOT: Knights

FFA ADVISOR: Jaime Chenevey

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR LOGAN SCHLAUCH:

Click on the picture below to be taken to the West Holmes High School Website:

Logan’s FFA Advisor’s Email Address: jchenevey@westholmes.org

West Holmes High School Telephone Number: 330- 674-3546

FFA LINKS:

National FFA Organization

Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAE’s)

Support FFA

Donate to FFA – One way that FFA students are able to start small businesses is through an FFA grant of $1,000. In 2014, 141 FFA students received these grants. With your donations, more students can get this head start – pay it forward.

REASONS TO DONATE TO FFA:

Only 2% of Americans grow and raise most of the food and livestock consumed by the other 98% as well as the rest of the world. FFA is providing the needed education, training and resources to Americans that will carry that torch forward and ensure that America continues to have inexpensive, quality food.
Rural Communities will rely on entrepreneurship in the future for population growth and job creation. The FFA is a major catalyst to that entrepreneurial growth.
Farmers, ranchers, and those working in agriculture give the rest of America incredible amounts of freedom because the search for food is as simple as going to the grocery store:

“Because American farmers are able to provide for so many of us, they give more and more of us the freedom to pursue goals and livelihoods beyond growing the food we need to survive.”

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack