The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) is celebrating its 40th anniversary of biofuels policy leadership all year in 2021.

RFA was created in 1981 by a small group of innovative farmers and business leaders with the ambitious goal of growing production and demand for ethanol, a relatively unknown renewable fuel that was cleaner-burning, homegrown, and environmentally friendly. Four decades later, the U.S. ethanol industry has grown into a thriving and dynamic renewable energy powerhouse, and RFA continues to build upon the vision, leadership, and ingenuity of its founders.

“It’s no mistake that RFA has been nicknamed ‘the voice of the ethanol industry.’ In many ways, the story of RFA is the story of the ethanol industry itself,” said RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper. Since the founding of the organization, U.S. ethanol production has grown nearly 16,000 percent, from about 100 million gallons to the record high of 16.1 billion in 2018.

Through various publications and activities, RFA will celebrate its 40th anniversary all year long in 2021. The association will look back on the milestones of an industry that grew from just a handful of small plants in a few Corn Belt states to more than 200 sophisticated, high-tech biorefineries nationwide. Today’s ethanol industry supports almost 350,000 jobs and contributes more than $40 billion to the nation’s economy each year, a far cry from its humble beginnings.