American Corn Growers Foundation Leads Illinois School to Wind Energy

The American Corn Growers Foundation’s (ACGF) Wealth from the Wind outreach program has led the Bureau Valley District School in Manlius, Ill., to install the school’s own electricity generating wind turbine. The school district broke ground and held a celebration for the project on Oct. 3, 2004.

Keith Bolin, school board member and newly elected president of the American Corn Growers Association (ACGA), led the initiative for the school to own a wind turbine after attending an ACGF wind-energy workshop. Bolin estimates that the turbine will save the school approximately $100,000 per year in energy costs. In addition, he sees the project as an excellent educational tool for the students to help them see wind energy as a rural economic development tool.

The ACGF’s Wealth from the Wind outreach program, with support from a W.K. Kellogg Foundation grant, is playing an essential role in delivering wind energy outreach to farmers and rural communities. According to the American Wind Energy Association, using wind power creates local jobs and boosts farm incomes without polluting the air and water. Wind can provide the electricity needed for sustainable, long-term economic growth.

ACGF’s CEO, Dan McGuire, says “without the WKKF grant, our program could not have achieved anything close to the success it has. We salute the W.K. Kellogg Foundation for their strong leadership in support of the future of rural America and we applaud them for their vision in seeing wind energy as providing a new cash crop for farmers as it generates new economic development hope for rural communities.”

For more on the Wealth from the Wind program, click on “Programs” on www.acgf.org.