Guardian Energy, the company that recently purchased a former VeraSun Energy Corp. plant in Janesville, Minn., is a cooperative of farmer-owned ethanol plants, according to Wallace's Farmer.

Six Midwestern farmer-owned ethanol plants combined to form Guardian Energy, including plants in Minnesota -- Little Falls, Benson, Claremont and Winthrop, along with a plant at Mason City, Iowa and Minden, Neb.

Guardian Energy CEO and board president Randall Doyal said the company plans to bring the plant on line yet this fall and is trying to fill some 45 job openings. Doyal also serves as CEO of Al-Corn Clean Fuel.

Ben Brown, CEO of Heartland Corn Products and secretary of Guardian's board, said the opportunity for local ownership will be good for the Janesville community.

(Wallace's Farmer, Oct. 1, 2009)
(http://wallacesfarmer.com/…)

DTN: Gaylord Boilesen, a business owner in Ord, Neb. who was part of an original investment group that brought a 50-million-gallon plant to town eventually owned by VeraSun, said he believes local ownership wouldn't have taken chances on risk management. Recall that VeraSun took huge losses when it locked in corn contracts for $4 and $6 a bushel, betting that the market was heading to $10. Trouble hit when corn prices dropped to $3 and lower. There's another school of thought, however. Alex Moglia, president of Moglia Advisors based in the Chicago area, told DTN in June 2008 that many ethanol plants were headed to bankruptcy because they were started or funded by people "who did not have a background in process industries. Just because you're a good farmer doesn't make you a good judge of a manufacturing enterprise," he said. (Todd Neeley)