At the same time, Patty Kinder, the longtime economic development director in nearby Carrollton, was trying to draw in a major enterprise, an economic development project that would jumpstart the area’s languid economy. She was a member of the Farmers Steering Committee for Ethanol. “Real economic development—bringing industry and quality jobs—is a very tall order to a rural community,” Kinder said. “It’s very rare in economic development that a project comes along that is ag-related and offers real opportunities to farmers.”
Connected by a common vision, Kinder and Utlaut merged groups to form a steering committee—a group of 15 to 20 farmers who were serious about exploring the idea of building an ethanol plant in the area of Carroll, Saline and Lafayette counties. Three years and an untold number of meetings later, their vision has been realized. MME, a 40 mmgy dry mill, came on line Feb. 20 with the distinction of being 100 percent farmer-owned, an increasingly less common ethanol plant classification, and something MME’s 729 farmer-investors are extremely proud of.
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From the very beginning, the group—which multiplied in number with every meeting—was interested in an ethanol plant that was farmer-owned. But the project’s $60 million price tag made that prerogative seem unlikely at times. Over the course of the project’s first year of development, the group completed a feasibility study, business plan and began working with Fagen Inc. The Granite Falls, Minn.-based firm would eventually provide design/ build services for MME. ICM Inc. provided process engineering.
Site and legal structure chosen
Fagen Inc. was instrumental in choosing the plant’s site.
Located in north-central Missouri, Malta Bend depends heavily on agriculture and its peripheral industries. The 10-county area surrounding the town of 250 residents—an area that yielded about 80 million bushels of corn in 2004—has always offered a rich bounty to its inhabitants. William Clark, co-captain of the famed Corps of Discovery, first explored the area near Malta Bend in June 1804. He wrote in his journal that the area was a “beautiful expansive prairie”—a veritable sea full of rich tall grasses. Two centuries later, the area’s well-groomed fields of corn had the same allure for Fagen Inc.’s project developers, who urged the farmer-investors of MME to build there.
Around the time the site was chosen, the feasibility study came back with positive results, and the group prepared to start raising money.
The equity drive began in February 2003. Seventy-one meetings were held by the end of March, yielding nearly $17 million of investment. Utlaut said he was told that $15.3 million is the most any ethanol project in the nation had raised in its initial equity drive. “We had a lady that was 99 years of age,” Utlaut said. “She said, ‘I don’t have much time left, but I want to invest.’”
Missouri law requires an ethanol plant be at least 51 percent farmer-owned in order to receive the state ethanol program incentives. With the finish line in sight, MME organizers decided to extend the project’s equity drive to reach that goal. Eight more meetings were held after the spring planting season and on July 29, 2003, MME’s equity drive successfully closed, setting a national record for producer investment in an initial offering. In the end, 729 producer-members from 45 Missouri counties and five states raised approximately $24 million. The senior lender is AgStar Financial Services. “The president of the local bank said this is the best opportunity he had seen in this community since he didn’t know when,” Utlaut said.
While Utlaut credited the entire MME board for the success of the equity drive, he said Kinder really led the way. She helped organize the equity drive meetings and eventually became project coordinator for MME. Kinder is now an assistant to General Manager Billy Gwaltney.
“Patty was really key in providing the continuity to keep the whole thing going,” Utlaut said. “At the second annual meeting, I told the group that if it weren’t for Patty Kinder, there wouldn’t be an ethanol plant in the area today.”
Building the MME team
Gwaltney’s first visit to the plant was almost by chance. He was visiting family in the area during plant construction when he called Kinder to express interest in working at the plant. Gwaltney and Utlaut met that afternoon. “The first afternoon … we met for an hour talking about ethanol issues,” Utlaut said. “[Gwaltney] made a statement early on about wanting to work with people and manage people. That stuck with me.”
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