GREENVILLE — Jim Buchy offered Greenville Middle School students a simple formula for building successful futures: Work hard, keep learning, get involved, and recognize the opportunities rooted in their own community.
Speaking to teacher Jeff Miller’s Ag Exploration classes, the former state representative and Greenville businessman used stories from his family’s meatpacking business, public service and personal life to explain how agriculture connects with careers far beyond the farm.
“Every generation has to understand how important this area is, and the base and the foundation is agriculture,” Buchy said.
For Buchy, the visit was a chance to encourage young people to appreciate that foundation as they begin to consider their own futures.
For Miller, it brought decades of firsthand experience into a new classroom offering.
“He has so many tools in his tool belt to connect with kids, whether it be vocational, agriculture, social, sports,” Miller said.
Buchy, the former president and CEO of Buchy Food Service, described himself first as a butcher by trade. He traced his family’s local business history to his great-grandfather, who immigrated to the United States in 1869.
After working in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, his great-grandfather moved to Greenville, where he started the family business in 1878. Buchy said five generations participated in the company before it was sold in 2012, ending 134 years of family ownership.
His own working life began early. He delivered newspapers at age 10 and went to work in the family business at 13.
Those experiences helped establish the message he returned to throughout his presentation.
“Now let me tell you my favorite four-letter word,” Buchy told the students. “Put it in your vocabulary. W-O-R-K.”
“The harder you work, the luckier you get, the more successful you’ll be.”
Buchy encouraged students to view agriculture as a broad industry encompassing food production, processing, distribution, sales and other careers.
“Now that’s not cows and plows,” he said. “That’s everything that’s related to food.”
He explained that a restaurant meal represents agriculture just as surely as livestock or crops. His own career illustrated those connections, taking him from meat processing and sales to business leadership, the Ohio House of Representatives and service as assistant director of the Ohio Department of Agriculture.
After graduating from Wittenberg University and returning to the family business, Buchy decided he wanted to learn from someone outside his family.
He moved to San Jose, California, where he spent four years working for an Italian sausage maker and distributor.
“I learned an awful lot about life,” he said. “I learned an awful lot about the food business.”
He urged students to continue exploring agriculture through 4-H and, when they reach high school, FFA. Beyond technical knowledge, he said, those programs help develop values and prepare young people for responsibilities in their careers and communities.
Whatever occupation students eventually choose, he told them, the lessons they learn now can become building blocks for future success.
“Somebody might own your own business,” Buchy said. “Whatever it is you do, what you learn here in agriculture education and the values that go with it are going to help you become successful.”
At 86, Buchy said he continues working and maintains offices at home and in Columbus. He described a daily routine that includes exercise, walking, and keeping his mind engaged.
His humor accompanied the advice.
“I’m too young to be retired,” he said. “I’m only 86.”
When a student asked what he enjoyed most about his work, Buchy’s answer was immediate: people.
He described representing his home region in Columbus as a privilege and said his affection for the community remains central to his work.
That interest extends to mentoring younger people entering public service.
Buchy said he meets with young legislative employees, asking about their backgrounds, their responsibilities, and where they hope to be in 10 years.
For those unsure of an answer, he recommends starting with paper and pencil: Write down what they enjoy, identify potential careers and seek guidance from people who understand those fields.
“Surround yourself with the people who know about that, so that they can mentor you to help you get to where you’re going to go,” he said.
Questions also brought the discussion to farmland preservation and the placement of data centers and power lines.
Buchy said communities should have a voice in decisions affecting their land and agricultural economy. He encouraged thoughtful planning as technology advances, suggesting that previously developed urban properties should receive consideration for data centers.
“I am not opposed to AI,” he said.
He explained that his concern is how projects are placed and whether local communities help make those decisions.
Returning to the students’ immediate futures, Buchy encouraged participation in extracurricular activities, including music and sports, alongside a strong commitment to classroom work.
He challenged students to give their best effort while acknowledging that success does not require everyone to have identical academic abilities.
“Work to your capacity,” he said.
“I wasn’t an A student, but I always worked to how the best I could do.”
He also urged students to listen to their parents, remain curious and approach school as preparation for opportunities they may not yet recognize.
As the visit ended, a student turned Buchy’s own mentoring question back on him: Where did he see himself in 10 years, and why?
“Alive,” Buchy answered.
He followed the humor with a response that reflected the purpose behind his continued work.
“And getting up every day to do what I can to make it better.”
