Gayle Bergstrom is stepping down from the Minnesota Corn Research and Promotion Council this month. Bergstrom was part of a small group of people who helped reshape America’s energy future.

He joined the Minnesota Corn Growers Association (MCGA) board in 1984 and became president in 1987. During his tenure, growers saw the state legislature pass the nation’s first ethanol producer credit. Though it would be several years before an ethanol cooperative could take full advantage, the measure gave the financial sector the reassurance they needed. When the first groups of farmer-investors gathered together a modest amount of equity, they found banks willing to make loans on the basis of the guaranteed cash flow provided by the producer credit.

Today, Minnesota’s 18 ethanol plants have the capability to produce approximately a billion gallons of ethanol each year, and bring an estimated $5 billion in yearly economic activity and more than 18,000 jobs to Minnesota, according to the MCGA.

Bergstrom also served on the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) board.

“He’s one of the most tireless volunteers I’ve seen in any organization,” said Richard Peterson, a farmer in Mountain Lake and former MCGA president and past NCGA board member. “You name the event — conferences, conventions, lobbying state and federal government — Gayle Bergstrom has been there, constantly helping us move things forward.”

After his stint on the NCGA Board, Bergstrom served several more terms with the state corn growers. He took the helm of the public relations committee at a crucial time, when MCGA would make its successful pitch to the legislature to require the use of ethanol, at a volume of 10 percent in all the state’s gasoline. That was 1991. Minnesota fulfilled the 10 percent requirement first in the metro area in October 1995 and then statewide in October 1997.

For more than 10 years, Minnesota drivers have experienced cheaper, less polluting fuel thanks to this requirement.

In 1999, Bergstrom became a district representative to the Minnesota Corn Research and Promotion Council where he served for three terms.

In 2005, the legislature passed a 20 percent renewable fuels requirement, which will go into effect in 2013.

Bergstrom also became involved with the U.S. Grains Council, as a representative from Minnesota to that organization. During that period, U.S. corn growers opened export markets to developing countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean that had never purchased US corn before, and continue to be strong markets today.

Bergstrom was part of the group, who convinced the US Grains Council to market distiller’s grains, so that the ethanol co-product would maintain or increase its value and help support the viability of America’s ethanol industry.

“There’s usually more than one way to do things,” Bergstrom said of his leadership style. “I have found that whenever you are thinking that your idea is the best way — the way it should be done — that’s when you have to keep an open mind.

“If the debate goes the other way, then you have to do your best to get your mind around the group’s decision and get behind it,” he added.

Bergstrom and his wife, Lavonne, have one daughter and three sons.

He still farms with his oldest son, Bruce. His daughter, Sherie, is a school teacher in Austin. His youngest son, Rich, now works feeding hogs at the Bergstrom livestock operation.

Bergstrom has a strong connection to education. He served for 25 years on the Southland school board, including a decade as chairman, during which time he organized the consolidation of three school districts into one.

His son, Blair, has also spent time farming in the family operation, but has since moved on to become a sales representative for the local coop’s LP gas unit.