PHILLIPSBURG — The western Kansas Rural Economic Development Alliance (wKREDA) awarded local ethanol plant, Prairie Horizon Agri-Energy, with the Agricultural Business of the Year award early this month. The annual Business of Distinction award program, is an initiative that commends western Kansas businesses of excellence.

Prairie Horizon Agri-Energy, established in 2006, produces over 40 million gallons of ethanol and grinds 14 million bushels of grain annually. In 2018, the ethanol plant added Fiber Separation Technology to the process, producing 38% Hi-Protein dry distillers, wet distillers grain and corn oil for livestock feed. A new 470,000 bushel steel bin was added to the existing two concrete silos allowing for more direct farmer purchases. Prairie Horizon’s USA Clean Fuels on East Highway 36 in Phillipsburg, KS offers higher blends of ethanol with options of E10, E15, E20, E30, and E85 along with clear diesel. “It was a great privilege to receive this award highlighting our role in the ag community,” said CEO, Joe Kreutzer.

wKREDA is a coalition of organizations and individuals across 55 counties in western Kansas who collectively pool their resources to work together for the common good of the region. Originally formed as a grassroots organization in 1994, wKREDA’s members maintain a collaborative affiliation with each other so that they are able to achieve both individual, and collective rural development goals.

Prairie Horizon Agri-Energy is a limited liability corporation, founded in November 2003 in the rural community of Phillipsburg, Kansas. The company is owned by 300 area investors and employs 36.

— Submitted