On tomorrow’s Ag Business Episode we are telling the story of a company that was born during the Great Depression from a need to make extra money during slow times during the winter.  The answer that the founder came up with was a value added product.  Today, that original product has inspired many other products and created jobs for hundreds of people and deliciousness for millions of people’s meals.

As a great “tie in” to tomorrow’s show I went looking for interviews that I had done regarding value added product.  I cannot think of a better “tie in” than this interview that I did with Logan Schlaugh back in 2020.  The creation of a value added product is literally what saved this young man’s family farming enterprise.  You have all heard me talk about the pressure to not be the link in the family chain that loses the farm.  Well, this is real story about coming close but then being innovative and saving it with a value added product.

The original show notes are below:

SHOW NOTES

INTRODUCING LOGAN SCHLAUCH! 

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 families 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 insure 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:

“The future of American agriculture depends on the involvement and investment in America’s youth, In order to prepare for the population of tomorrow, we need to encourage America’s youth today, and show that careers in agriculture are profitable, rewarding, and vital.”.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue

More Places You Can Listen to Off-Farm Income And Matt Brechwald: