2006 Minnesota Business Hall of Fame

Davis worked for five years at the creamery as a butter maker before he and his father gave up butter for cheese. In 1969, Stan Davis and cheese maker Allen Cords merged their companies and milk supplies to become the Le Sueur Cheese Company. Mark Davis joined the venture as a third partner. 

With a larger milk supply, Le Sueur Cheese could meet Kraft’s demand for more cheese. As the company grew, so did its product line. Stan Davis had installed the company’s first spray dryer in 1956, which harvested whole-milk powder for distribution throughout the U.S. In 1978, a major factory expansion led to more use of the whey. And in 1983, Mark Davis went to the next level by harvesting protein from the whey. 

“My dad’s curiosity has been the key,” Marty says. “He recognizes opportunity because he studies hard, even after 45 years in business. That’s how he learned about whey protein. He was reading in a magazine about this company in Wales . . . and he called them up.”

Soon after, Mark visited Wales, formed a partnership with the company, and acquired it in 1991. “Whey protein took us international,” Marty says.

A year later, Mark Davis built a cheese factory in Jerome, Idaho, taking advantage of the state’s expanding milk production—and doubled Davisco’s size by doing so. “My dad invested $35 million and borrowed every penny,” Marty says. “That took a lot of guts. And it took a lot of instinct, which really came from years of doing his homework.” The expansion in Idaho, he adds, “made us a very prominent player in the U.S. milk-processing industry.”

“We always look for the next economic hit—a home run, if you will, or at least a base hit,” Mark says.

He hopes his next hit happens in Minnesota. Near St. Peter, he built the 3,000-head Northern Plains Dairy (owned by Davis, his children, and grain farmer Dave Mogenson) as an example for other farmers of how a modern, large-scale dairy farm can coexist with a healthy environment, provide a good living, and boost the local economy. So far, no one has jumped on the bandwagon.

“Building the dairy was a milestone for us,” Mark says. “It remains to be seen whether it was a good milestone or a bad one. My philosophy is, if you’re right 51 percent of the time, then when life is all over, you’ll have done more right than wrong.”