Chippewa Valley Ethanol marks 30 years of growth in Benson

Chippewa Valley Ethanol Company on June 18 marked 30 years in Benson with a biorefinery that has grown from 15 million gallons a year in 1996 to 50 million gallons a year today. The farmer-owned cooperative said the plant, built west of Benson, helped turn local corn into fuel ethanol, distillers dried grains and highly refined alcohol while its ownership base expanded to more than 950 producers, elevators and community members.

The cooperative formed in 1994, and construction began in June 1995 on what became one of the first ethanol plants in Minnesota. Chippewa Valley Ethanol said the facility now supports 52 jobs in Swift County, while Chippewa Valley Agrafuels Cooperative owns the plant, property and equipment and leases those assets back to CVEC. Board chair Harmon Wilts credited the founders, including local farmer John Carruth and local electric cooperative manager Ray Millet, with setting the project in motion to add value to locally produced corn and stabilize electricity rates.

CVEC’s reach now extends beyond Benson. The company said it holds ownership interests in 8 other ethanol plants across 6 states, representing more than 50 million gallons of additional fuel production capacity. Through Renewable Products Marketing Group, which CVEC helped found, it markets about 2 billion gallons of ethanol and 2.2 million tons of distillers grains each year, tying the Benson operation into a much larger fuel and coproduct network.

The company’s history has been built on product shifts as much as plant expansions. CVEC was among the first plants to blend E85, became the first to produce alcohol for spirits for Shakers Vodka, later made alcohol for hand sanitizer and recently earned certification to export pharmaceutical products to the United Kingdom and Europe. It also tested a biomass gasifier and corn stover fuel, but those economics did not work out.

That mix of wins and false starts is likely to define the next 30 years as much as the first 30. In 2025, CVEC highlighted corn kernel fiber cellulosic ethanol production and a DCO Technology startup, underscoring the pressure on legacy plants to keep lowering carbon intensity, add higher-value coproducts and find new uses for the same bushel. CVEC joined the Renewable Fuels Association in 2001, former general manager Bill Lee chaired the group in 2004 and 2005, and current general manager Chad Friese sits on its board.