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In February 2024, @soldier_hollow Nordic Center, a former Olympic venue in Midway, Utah, enrolled in @heberutahpower's Clear Peaks program to cover 100% of its electricity, from snowmaking to its competition building. Clear Peaks sells all-renewable power in 100-kilowatt-hour blocks for 90 cents each, and program revenue supports current and future renewable projects. “Sustainability is a priority throughout winter sport, and this initiative will benefit the Heber Valley community, the kids in our sports programs, and visitors from around Utah and the world,” said Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation Chief of Sport Development @LukeBode_. thebusinessdownload.com/a-ce…

“Iowa is the renewable energy capital of the US. So, Iowa produces more than 60% of its electricity from renewable energy, the vast majority of that from wind,” said Frank Macchiarola, Chief Advocacy Officer of @USCleanPower, at the @IowaStateFair. “It also creates jobs. We have about 30,000 jobs in the clean energy sector here in Iowa alone.” For farmers, he added, “It enables them to be able to use their land to lease it to developers. It provides them a steady stream of income, provides them with energy.” #IowaStateFair #FarmfluencersAtTheFair #AmericasHarvestFestival #Iowa250 #America250

In Utah’s fast-growing Heber Valley, community-owned @heberutahpower gives customers ways to trim their own energy costs. The utility offers residential rebates of $1,200 to $1,600 to convert electric resistance heat to an air-source heat pump, $2,500 to convert to a ground-source heat pump, $1,000 for a heat pump water heater, $75 for a smart thermostat, and up to $500 toward a qualifying home EV charger. The utility also offers businesses an incentive for “any project that demonstrates energy or demand savings,” offered each year until funding runs out. thebusinessdownload.com/a-ce…

By using pattern recognition to distinguish weeds from plants, “you can then spray the weeds and not spray the good plants,” Cory Reed, President of Lifecycle Solutions, Supply Management, and Customer Success at @JohnDeere, explained the company's See & Spray technology at the @IowaStateFair. “That same technology can now determine if a plant has a disease potentially in the future.” AI, he said, “allows us to accelerate how you can put those technologies across more machines, more applications, more acres on your farm, and get more value from it.” #IowaStateFair #FarmfluencersAtTheFair #AmericasHarvestFestival #Iowa250 #America250

In Utah, @heberutahpower keeps the fast-growing Heber Valley powered with a mix of old and new. Its Upper Snake Creek hydro plant has generated power since 1949, and long-term contracts add geothermal, solar, wind, and federal hydropower. When those don’t cover demand, the utility runs over 15 megawatts of its own natural gas generation, with fast-response units that can go from idle to full load in five minutes, plus a lithium-ion battery that charges from hydro. More is on the way: the utility is financing a new power plant, a substation, and related improvements with 2026 bonds. thebusinessdownload.com/a-ce…

“We’re recognizing, okay, sustainability-wise, not just from a conservation perspective, but from a longevity perspective, if you want your grandkiddos farming someday, we have to start doing things a little bit differently,” said Joy Van Wyngarden (known online as Joy of All Trades) at the @IowaStateFair. “And we’re just ready to see something else be ushered in in a practical, logical, reasonable way.” #IowaStateFair #FarmfluencersAtTheFair #AmericasHarvestFestival #Iowa250 #America250

In 1909, @hebercityutah, Midway City, and Charleston Town formed @heberutahpower, and the Utah utility remains community-owned more than a century later. Its crews have carried their skills beyond the Heber Valley, too. In 2019, the utility’s lineworkers volunteered to connect homes on the Navajo Nation that had never had grid power. “I do feel a pretty big sense of pride, coming down here and helping these guys out, sharing my skill with them and bettering their lives,” lineworker Brad Fryer said at the time. thebusinessdownload.com/a-ce…

On the lawn outside Volk Packaging Corporation’s plant in Biddeford, Maine, stands the 50-foot Heroes Wall, with room for 700 tiles honoring veterans. The public can visit year-round, and all proceeds go to the local @VFWHQ. Employees also donate through their paychecks to Maine veterans’ organizations: the @TMFoundati0n and @HITWVeterans. The company also donates custom-printed boxes to New England veterans’ homes so families “have respectful moving boxes when a vet passes.” thebusinessdownload.com/a-bi…

“I started in @UPS. UPS, I got to tell you, is probably a game changer in my life. They are so organized,” said Rob Brenneman, President of @NPPC and Owner & Operator of @BrennemanPork, at the @IowaStateFair. “That’s what I brought home. Get it closed out and pick your stuff up and get it done.” Now, he explained, “It’s all about leading and coaching, because if I don’t coach and lead the next generation, they’re going to say, see ya. But we need young people to pick this up and continue on.” #IowaStateFair #FarmfluencersAtTheFair #AmericasHarvestFestival #Iowa250 #America250

Volk Packaging Corporation has collected and recycled corrugated materials for more than 50 years. At its Biddeford, Maine, plant, the family-owned box maker also recycles the water and plastic used in manufacturing and prints with water-based inks. In 2024 alone, its recycling diverted more than 600 tons of corrugated waste and saved over 15,000 trees. In 2021, the plant added 80,000 square feet of rooftop solar, built to supply power “not only for our machinery, but to our community as well.” thebusinessdownload.com/a-bi…

When business at Volk Packaging Corporation grew by almost 50% between 2019 and 2023, the Biddeford, Maine, box maker kept investing in its plant. The company committed $8 million, following an earlier $7 million upgrade in 2020. It employs about 120 people, 21% of whom had worked there for more than 20 years, and serves more than 1,000 customers across New England, none of which accounts for more than 8% of its business. “If I didn’t make this investment,” said CEO @DerekVolk, “it’d be like playing Roger Federer with a wooden tennis racquet.” thebusinessdownload.com/a-bi…

“We put the robots in in 2020, right before the pandemic kicked off, and that’s been one of the best decisions we ever made. If we’re reluctant to embrace technology, it’s going to be very easy to fall behind very quickly. It’s ultimately labor-saving and efficiency, and that’s where the money comes in," said Dan Venteicher (better known as @IowaDairyFarmer) at the @IowaStateFair. “Technology will not make a bad manager into a good one, but it can turn a good manager into a great one.” #IowaStateFair #FarmfluencersAtTheFair #AmericasHarvestFestival #Iowa250 #America250

In 1967, Benjamin Volk and his son Kenneth became the first tenants in Maine's new Biddeford Industrial Park. The next year, box production began with five employees. Nearly six decades later, grandson @DerekVolk, who started on the production floor at 17, leads Volk Packaging Corporation, described as “Maine’s only locally owned and operated corrugated box manufacturer.” His pitch to customers is simple: “When you buy from Volk, all the money stays in the state.” thebusinessdownload.com/a-bi…

“We’re a trade association for landowners that are either already hosting, or want to host, or been approached to host, a project,” said Jeff Risley, Executive Director of Renewable Energy Farmers of America, at the @IowaStateFair. The group works with local communities to “provide them with facts, dispel misinformation,” and fights local and county ordinances that would “flat-out ban or prohibit these things.” #IowaStateFair #FarmfluencersAtTheFair #AmericasHarvestFestival #Iowa250 #America250

“We’re a trade association for landowners that are either already hosting, or want to host, or been approached to host, a project,” said Jeff Risley, Executive Director of Renewable Energy Farmers of America, at the @IowaStateFair. Lease reviews, he said, are “the biggest thing that we’re doing right now for landowners... Make sure that you have as much information and are able to work with the developer taking care of your land, soil, water, everything else.” #IowaStateFair #FarmfluencersAtTheFair #AmericasHarvestFestival #Iowa250 #America250

“Right now we’re in unprecedented power demand in the country. Energy bills are rising; wind and solar are the cheapest. It’s a way to help meet that demand,” said Julia McPherson, Community Relations Senior Manager at @EdpRenewables, at the @IowaStateFair. “We can’t just rely on putting it on rooftops in cities. There’s more open space, there’s more flat space in rural places typically, and we’re able to benefit from that economy of scale quite a bit.” #IowaStateFair #FarmfluencersAtTheFair #WheelOfAgriculture #AmericasHarvestFestival #Iowa250 #America250

Still thinking about getting to spend this day at the #IowaStateFair and the conversations connecting the stories and innovation fueling Iowa ag. “This event was to bring together politicians, folks who work in renewable energy, and folks who work in agriculture,” said @delaneyhowell07, President of @AgNewsDaily and CEO & Founder of @AgCultureMkting. @IowaStateFair #FarmfluencersAtTheFair #WheelOfAgriculture #AmericasHarvestFestival #Iowa250 #America250

When the City of Ellsworth, Maine, swapped free electric vehicle (EV) charging for eight paid ports at City Hall, @EfficiencyMaine's Lily McVetty said the decision would “set a great example for other municipalities.” Other Maine communities are also rethinking free charging. The @CityofSoPo announced in February 2026 that it is shifting its public charging to a pay-for-use model. Efficiency Maine will reimburse up to 80% of eligible costs, up to $200,000 per site, for new public Level 2 chargers at business, multifamily, and public properties, with proposals accepted until December 3, 2026, or until funding runs out. thebusinessdownload.com/how-…

The City of Ellsworth, Maine, built eight paid electric vehicle (EV) charging ports at City Hall for $129,804, with outside funding covering most of the cost. @EfficiencyMaine contributed $80,000, and a federal tax credit was expected to cover another $38,941. City Manager Charlie Pearce said the city’s own cost was only about $10,000. His pitch to the council was pure business: “As EV charger use increases, the city will, in effect, be entering the ‘gas’ business, providing power for electric vehicles and profiting from each charge.” thebusinessdownload.com/how-…

The City of Ellsworth, Maine, calls itself a gateway to @AcadiaNPS, and it installed eight new paid electric vehicle charging ports at City Hall to draw park visitors downtown while they charge. “They’re tourists that are coming from all over the country to visit Acadia. And they’ve got an EV,” City Manager Charlie Pearce said. Research backs the downtown bet: a 2024 study published in @NaturePortfolio found that spending at California businesses within 100 meters of a new charger rose 2.7% and 3.2% over the two periods measured. thebusinessdownload.com/how-…