Written by Jonathan Eisenthal

American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) presented its Grassroots Award this year to Dale Tolifson, a long-time Minnesota Corn Growers Association (MCGA) grower leader and founding member of Chippewa Valley Ethanol Cooperative (CVEC). The award was presented at this year’s ACE annual meeting in Minneapolis.

ACE uses its Grassroots Award to recognize those who work “behind the scenes” to advance the cause of ethanol. Tolifson, who farms in Benson, worked from 1991 to 1995 raising funds and gathering membership for CVEC, one of the first farmer-owned ethanol plants in the nation. He went on to serve as chairman of the board for CVEC for 13 years.

“Dale has played an instrumental role in making sure the priorities of ACE and MCGA are aligned and ensuring communication between our organizations,” said ACE CEO Brian Jennings.  “But most importantly, Dale’s grassroots leadership and support of ethanol epitomizes the grit and determination it takes to enable farmers to succeed in taking market share from the most profitable companies in the world.”

Tolifson and his peers at CVEC were part of the advanced guard that helped make the ten percent ethanol volume requirement a reality in Minnesota—the industry grew from that first few plants to a score of major ethanol production facilities that now make over a billion gallons of the cleaner burning fuel. This renewable energy production adds a billion dollars to the value of the corn crop in the state of Minnesota.

“I started farming in 1963 after I graduated from high school and got involved with the ethanol industry around 1990 when we decided to put an ethanol plant in our town,” Tolifson said. “The ethanol industry is the biggest thing that’s happened in my farming career, and it still has a lot of potential. I never thought it’d go this far.”

Tolifson insists that the need continues for grassroots leadership among farmers, pushing for new markets and new value-added products from corn. He noted that during his tenure on the National Corn Growers Association ethanol committee, a partnership was struck up between NCGA and NASCAR, so that the racers would use E15.

“Those racers have driven more than six million miles on E15, pushing their vehicles to the limit, and E15 has not caused one problem,” says Tolifson. “This is how you build the ethanol market.”

Grassroots leaders coming up now will be all important in the fight to gain acceptance for the next ethanol innovation. Other new markets and products that have yet to be thought of will surely come along, said Tolifson.

“Ethanol—the value that it’s brought to farming—is what has caused agriculture industries to develop the seed genetics we use now, and the GPS field equipment—all those things that have benefited farming have come from ethanol,” Tolifson said.