A northern Iowa ethanol venture has expanded its search for investors into Illinois, and it appears a site in Worth or Winnebago county will not be in the plant’s future.

Wednesday, January 10, 2001

A northern Iowa ethanol venture has expanded its search for investors into Illinois, and it appears a site in Worth or Winnebago county will not be in the plant’s future.

Midwest Grain Processors (MGP), a Mason City-based ethanol project, spent part of November and December holding informational meetings across northern Iowa searching for investors. A meeting in Kensett drew nearly 100 interested corn growers.

&uot;We had good response from farmers, especially in north-central Iowa,&uot; said MGP Project Coordinator Brad Petersburg. &uot;We anticipate a need of about 1,000 growers to invest their corn and their capital. From our Iowa meetings, we signed about 500 producers.&uot;

Petersburg will hold another series of informational meetings in Illinois beginning Jan. 16 in the hopes of finding more interested farmers to back the $56 million ethanol plant and surrounding industrial park.

In order to join MGP as a grower/investor, the venture is looking for an annual commitment of 5,000 bushels of corn. Members will also have the chance to purchase preferred stock this spring.

Though a final site for the plant has not yet been selected, Petersburg said MGP has narrowed the sites down to four possibilities.

&uot;We’ve got four promising sites in northern Iowa, but we won,t make an announcement for a few more weeks,&uot; Petersburg said. &uot;Right now we’re looking at the packages presented to us from the four communities to make the best possible decision.&uot;

Petersburg thinks more Iowa corn growers might opt to invest once MGP chooses a final site.

&uot;There are definitely a few interested people who are waiting to see,&uot; Petersburg said. &uot;Some farmers will feel more comfortable investing once we finalize our plans.&uot;

According to Beth Hesse of Win-Worth BETCO, and economic development organization for Winnebago and Worth Counties, MGP is not considering any sites within the two counties.

&uot;They are looking for a large gas line and rail line,&uot; Hesse said. &uot;We weren’t really in the running.&uot;

MGP, like the Exol ethanol plant in Albert Lea, will be a farmer-owned venture. MGP, however, is planning to build a much larger plan than the Exol facility. At 45 million gallons of capacity, the plant is three times larger that Exol’s 15 million gallons. (Exol is currently expanding to twice its current capacity.) Petersburg said that construction of the MGP plant and surrounding industrial park could begin this summer.

When finished, the plant would process 16 million bushels of corn per year.

&uot;We’re anxious to get started, but I don’t think we’re going to run out of cheap corn anytime soon,&uot; Petersburg said. &uot;Hopefully we’ll be producing by 2002.&uot;