The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
At a GROWTH ENERGY board meeting Monday in South Dakota, Raymond Defenbaugh of Biggsville, CEO of Big River Resources LLC and Growth Energy board member was surprised for the second time this year when Dave VanderGriend, ICM, Inc. founder and Growth Energy board honored him for all he has done "for the sucesses of the ethanol industry, Prime The Pump, farming, and rural communities-contributing to their survival."
Defenbaugh received a standing round of applause by his peers and all in attendance and was humbled by VanderGriend's lengthy speech and the recogniton. He was presented an Affinity Bennelli 12 gauge special left handed gun which was engraved with a nice saying and Defenbaugh's picture on the stock.
Defenbaugh's hard work, good business head and loyalty to the industry has impressed his local Big River Resources board as well. BRR honored their CEO this year at a board meeting for his outstanding leadership. He was also presented a special made gun and a framed picture by board member Chris Schwarck of Mason City, IA after a lengthy speech followed by a round of applause by fellow board members.
Defenbaugh responded that he was only one of many hardworking members who do the work and bring the successes to the industry and the farm communities.
The ethanol industry has faced a constant battle in Washington, and leaders like Defenbaugh work hard to insure that ethanol continues in order to help bring added value to the huge corn crop farmers work hard to produce to meet the demands.
Farmers have their challenges but faithfully do what it takes as they do this year, many in the mud and the rain.
Defenbaugh has been a forerunner in facing the challenges along the way and he has pioneered many projects in meeting them, including the forming of Growth Energy, which promotes and fights the battles for the ethanol industry
Tuesday, Growth Energy celebrated its tenth year in existence with a host of accomplishments.
Defenbaugh was also a strong leader in Prime-The-Pump which oversees getting ethanol pumps into gas stations to insure their product is available to the consumer. This required many phone calls to Ethanol producers to put a good hunk of their profits into Prime-The-Pump.
Was it successful? HyVee has added ehtanol pumps to their new stations. And now Casey's General Store, just this week, unveiled a partnership with Prime the Pump, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping to give more Americans the choice of E15 at the pump.
Casey's will expand fuel with E15 to potentially more than 500 of its locations over the next few years.
"We are thrilled Prime the Pump is entering into partnership with Casey's and taking it to record-breaking heights to give more American drivers a cleaner burning, engine-smart option at the pump," said Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor. "Casey's has seen the value E15 brings to their business and to their customers, and will soon be the nation's largest E15 retailer."
At present, Casey's is among the nation's leading independent retailers offering E15 at more than 1,600 stations across 30 states.
Just Tuesday, Growth Energy and Prime the Pump announced Cumberland Farms as the newest E15 retail partner to join the Prime the Pump program.
Massachusetts-based Cumberland Farms will begin offering E15 at more than 120 of its stores in the Northeast United States.
The sites will be spread across Reformulated Gasoline (RFG) markets, which will allow Cumberland Farms to sell E15 year-round.
"At Cumberland Farms we strive to be the clear choice for our customers' everyday needs and that means being on the frontlines of innovation," said Cumberland Farms David Masuret, Senior Vice President Petroleum Supply and Operations.
"As E15's growth continued to accelerate it became an obvious choice for us to make it available to our customers."
"We are ecstatic to be expanding our E15 family with Cumberland Farms," said Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor. "Cumberland Farms will spread E15 access to new territory and will be giving more American drivers a cleaner-burning, engine-smart choice at the pump which will be available uninterrupted year-round.
"Cumberland Farms joins the ranks of Casey's, Kwik Trip, Sheetz, Kum & Go, Minnoco, RaceTrac, Thorntons, Protec Fuel, QuikTrip, Family Express, Holiday, Murphy USA, Rutter's, and Cenex in offering E15 to their customers - a fuel made with 15 percent ethanol and approved for cars 2001 and newer.
"American drivers have responded to the growing availability of E15 and have already logged more than 5 billion miles on the fuel."
All this is happening and began with Ray Defenbaugh at the forefront as he aided in ground work to get others to support the Prime-The-Pump initiative and talk with station owners to install pumps.
Growth Energy
Established in 2008, Growth Energy has accomplished much. At one instance, the board met in Burlington, Iowa at BRR board room but prior to the meeting, an open session was held at the Capitol Theater where the public could come and hear of their work and ask questions of the board.
CEO Tom Buis, joined Growth Energy in March 2009 and served as the CEO of the organization until July of 2015. In 2016 Emily Skor was named CEO.
Skor says, "We have accomplished so much over the past decade."
According to Growth Energy website's timeline, they have promoted intrnational and domesti markets, advocated for sound biofuels policy, ensured the organization grew every day, and worked hard to make sure the benefits of biofuels are felt across the globe.
The latest accomplishement is President Trump's announcement on allowing E15 year round last week.
A couple dozen more accomplishments are highlighted on the Growth Energy website out of many more accomplishments.
In 2008, there were 37 member plants. In 2018, there are 91 plants that are members.
In 2007, Kum & Go and Thorntons became the first retailers to join as associate members.
Check out the Growth Energy website at ......
https://growthenergy.org/
Raymond E. Defenbaugh, honored by Growth Energy, stand with fellow
board members Dave VanderGriend (left), and Richard Childress (center).