The National Farmers Union honored American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) founder Merle Anderson with the Meritorious Service Award in a special presentation last week in Grand Forks, ND.

Anderson was given the award for “the many years he spent advocating for family farmers and the advancement of the American ethanol industry to support local agricultural communities.” The award was announced at NFU’s annual meeting last month in San Diego but because Anderson was unable to travel, they planned this special ceremony for him.

ACE executive vice president Brian Jennings attended the event to honor Anderson, along with ACE’s current board president Ron Alverson and two former presidents of the board, Scott Parsley and Bob Scott.

“Merle and Farmers Union share a philosophy that when family farmers do well the entire country benefits from it,” Jennings expressed in his remarks at the awards ceremony. “That’s what Merle saw in ethanol 30 years ago. Merle lit the match to ignite grassroots support for ethanol because he had the vision to understand what it would mean for agriculture and rural communities.”

Anderson founded ACE in 1987 in the Dakotas and Minnesota as a grassroots movement to promote ethanol ownership and use. Today ACE is a nation-wide coalition of 500 members around the country and the 95-year-old founder still sits on the board and has attended nearly every annual meeting.