Life In The World’s Breadbasket: Vaughn Davis Of SchoolHouse Farms On 5 Things You Need To Create A Successful Career In The Farming and Agriculture Industries

A Place to Grow/Process Crops — This is not a paperwork career. Either find land or a greenhouse situation that works best for you.

As a part of my series about “‘5 Things You Need To Create A Successful Career In The Farming and Agriculture Industries'”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Vaughn Davis.

Vaughn Davis is co-owner and farmer of SchoolHouse Farms, which is dedicated to producing the world’s tastiest popcorn, sunflower oils/seed and distillation grains for humans and birds alike while preserving the land for future generations. Vaughn is a 7th Generation farmer who graduated from Vanderbilt University with a degree in chemical engineering and holds an MBA from Louisiana State University. He has worked extensively around the globe in North Africa, The Far East, India, Australia, South America, Europe and the Artic Regions of North America.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

My father’s family was immersed in agriculture in western Ohio, and I grew up helping my dad and grandfather on weekends — at least it seemed like I was helping, but I was likely more in the way because I just wanted tractor rides! By the time I was 10 years old, I was driving tractors, then helping with repairs and picking up rocks. In fact, I’m pretty sure I was driving tractors down the road before I had a license to drive a vehicle.

The wide-open spaces and my love for watching things grow certainly contributed to my future. After I graduated from high school in 1984, I went off to study chemical engineering at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. A career in engineering, mining and instrumentation took me around the world — literally! On three separate occasions, I made a true circumnavigation of the globe in 28 days or less. I’ve also been to 6 continents, 37 countries, 7 Canadian provinces and all 50 states.

After having this good fortune of traveling around the world, it was time to return to my farming “roots.” I had the privilege of meeting my business partner, Beth Cole, in York, Maine and, based on our shared love of small-town values, birdwatching and the Boston Bruins, we started SchoolHouse Farms, LLC. Our original goal was to grow and supply black oil sunflower seeds to the bird watching market and produce popcorn for snacking — we now offer over 65 products! Someday, I’d like to pay tribute to my travels and bring flavors of the world to our roasted sunflower kernels or infused sunflower oils — an international series, if you will.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began this fascinating career?

In 2021, Beth and I decided to build a maze through sunflowers on our farm in Ohio. We wanted to create something that would be unique and memorable, so I constructed the world’s largest hydrological map of Ohio. I used a large hydrological watershed map issued by the state of Ohio then overlaid a grid. Then, I used surveying equipment to lay out the flags and a rototiller to etch it in the land. It took over a week to construct and spanned nearly 25 acres of land and turned out spectacularly. We ended up on “The Shark Farmer” TV show on the Rural Farm Channel! We have another great idea planned for 2023, so just wait!

You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

Thoughtful — As a team, we believe in treating others with respect and being contributing members of a larger community. We continually donate to food pantries, women’s shelters and veterans’ organizations and volunteer our time and talents where we can make a difference.

Resourceful — As a startup, we are always looking to reuse, repurpose or recycle older or used equipment. Using my engineering background, we’ve been able to put together unique processes, primarily in the areas of product flow and cleaning. For example, we’ve taken an extruder that was utilized to press coal pellets and now use it to extract sunflower oil from seeds.

Collaborator — I see considerable benefits from working with others. The old adage, “If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together” comes to mind. Beth and I are very complementary in our work approach and manage very efficiently. We also like to work with our customers on solving problems or coming up with new processes. As an example, we custom stack pallets in reverse order for a large customer so they are more efficient on their end. We also grow custom products as needed for others.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Be Safe, Have Fun, Do Great Things”

This quote was passed on to me by former Exxon Chemical BRPO plant manager, Doug Connor.

• Be Safe — I take this to mean be well, be safe and don’t do unnecessarily stupid things. If you’re in a hospital or home sick, you can’t run your business, and you certainly can’t do it if you’re dead!
• Have Fun — Too many people do things they really dislike. Do something fun and you’ll never work a day in your life. Also, take time to have fun. Do something every day that reminds you of when you were a child. For me, this is reading or studying railroads. I loved railroads as kid, and we’re aspiring to ship via rail now for SchoolHouse Farms.
• Do Great Things — Why not? If you’re well and having fun, you WILL do great things.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion about the farming industry. The idea of farming has a very romantic and idyllic character to it, especially to some people living in a busy cosmopolitan context. Do you think now would be a good time for younger people with no farming history to get involved in the farming industry? Can you explain what you mean?

“Farming” can mean lots of things. In our case, at SchoolHouse Farms, driving a tractor is a very small fraction of the work we actually do. However, if farming is like art or music in the sense that what you do literally comes alive in front of you, then why not pursue it? Often, what an industry needs is a paradigm shift — not doing what is presently done — and, in those cases, an outsider might be perfect so there are fresh ideas and no preconceived notion of “how to do things.”

I’m not sure today or any other day is the best time to get involved in the farming industry — if it’s what you feel inside, then do it. There are headwinds in any industry and certainly agriculture has plenty, but it’s easy to give a set of negative reasons not to do something. It’s much harder to give a set of positive reasons — but the primary one for me is that I do it because I love it.

Where should a young person start if they would like to “get into” farming?

Starting with desire is ideally number one. Then, try and obtain an internship with a local grower, co-op or even upstream company using products from a farm. Academically, math, science and communication skills are all very important. The term “farming” is very broad these days — bee keeping, organic farms, large scale grain farming, nuts, berries, etc. are just some of the modern-day ways to participate in agriculture.

With greater attention being placed on the importance of the farming and Ag industries, what do you predict will be different about the farming and Ag sectors, over the next ten years?

It’s probably not a stretch to say technology will play a larger and larger role in the agricultural sector. Agriculture is really a microcosm of the growth of technology into our everyday lives. I think efficient water use will lead the way, along with minimizing the use of supplemental fertilizer. Air contains 78% nitrogen, so I’m guessing science will find a way to utilize this source over the next 20–30 years.

I’m very passionate about trying to help minorities to become more engaged in gardening and urban farming. What do you think can be done to engage more minorities and people of color in the farming and Ag industries?

This is a great question. I think first and foremost, every state has an extension service, usually through the land grant university of that state. Those resources could and should be directed to the urban setting for exactly the mission you propose to engage more minorities in gardening and urban farming. Cities could also dedicate a portion of public land for this purpose and provide any tools, seeds or water necessary. I’ve seen right of ways used beneath power lines for this activity, as an example. Fresh food is healthy food!

As for engaging more minorities and people of color in farming and ag industries, this must start at a young age. For example, at schools that already offer programs such as ag engineering, agronomy and ag business, they can include real use of seed and growing plants in biology class (this really can be fun!) to help inspire recruitment. I would encourage internships along the value chain in agriculture to expose more people to the industry.

Land ownership in the United States is unfortunately not getting any less expensive, and the barriers to entry are high — very high. Farmland is a finite resource and there are other competing uses for land. Arable land in the U.S. has decreased by 50,000,000 acres in the last 20 years, or a little over five percent. For this reason, I do see specialty agriculture becoming more important over time.

We all know that inflation is affecting so many parts of our lives. How does inflation affect farms? What steps have you taken to keep costs down?

Indeed, this is true. Generally, the largest impact of inflation is on input costs: seed, supplemental fertilizer, chemicals and fuel. Anything you can do to lower your input costs, you should do. For us at SchoolHouse Farms, this means fewer passes across the field, use of legume cover crops and, in our case, using our own heirloom seed as much as possible.

Here is the main question of our interview. Can you please share your “5 Things You Need To Create A Successful Career In The Farming and Agriculture Industries”?

Note: My answers are framed in regard to being an actual grower.

Desire — First and foremost, you must decide if this is what you want to commit to. Farming and agriculture is not a career with short-term results. Metaphorically, if you like to plant seeds and watch them grow, then this is a good fit. One percent of seeds become 50 percent of the flowers — plant more seeds and nurture them (i.e., your customers!)

Markets — Know your markets and understand where you have the best opportunity to sell the fruits of your labor. Focus on a few. In our case, we have identified two major areas of focus: Distillation grains and sunflower products. We have multiple products in each one of these specific markets, but we’ve also learned we can’t be all things to all customers. Focus is critical!

Time — You must have time and work in concert with the weather, not against it. Mother Nature can’t be pushed around.

A Place to Grow/Process Crops — This is not a paperwork career. Either find land or a greenhouse situation that works best for you.

Cash — You’ll need more than you think!

You are a person of significant influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

Anything that could be done to make food supplies more local or regional would be a positive step forward. If the recent pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that the supply chains are too long. As a small producer, I can’t compete with Wal-Mart on price or China on cost, so we participate in focused marketplaces and process our own crops into final products. I would also eliminate government lobbying. The entire agricultural landscape is driven by very few large conglomerates and laws/regulations are passed for their benefit, not yours!

This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!