Farmers on the Cutting Edge of Energy

TRIMONT, Minn. -- One would hardly know it driving down Main Street, but this tiny prairie town surrounded by corn and soybean fields is at the forefront of America's fight to wean itself off oil.

Giant turbines in this southern Minnesota cornfield harness the wind, generating enough power for 29,000 homes.

(Scott Mayerowitz/ABC)
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Long before gas topped $4 a gallon or Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens embraced renewable energy, a group of farmers here banded together to build a massive wind farm.

Today their vision is paying off.

At the edge of town, 67 giant turbines -- each taller than the Statue of Liberty -- rise above the landscape, producing enough electricity to power 29,000 homes throughout the state and providing the farmers and local government with roughly $2 million a year. And it's just the beginning. Soon, a second phase of the project will be online -- doubling the number of towers -- and a third phase is already being planned.

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So how did this town of only 754 residents, where the local radio station includes the price of cattle and corn in its news updates, land on the forefront of the nation's energy solutions?

Trimont manager Rick Mattioda stands in front of a turbine blade about to be installed.

It was part geography, part luck and part foresight by a few local farmers.

Trimont sits at the southern end of Minnesota, a few miles north of Iowa. The flat land spreads out in every direction, broken occasionally by a farmhouse or grain elevator.

Strong winds pass easily across the prairie, making it an ideal location for commercial-scale, wind-power generation. But strong winds aren't enough.

Trimont, a small town in the heart of the prairie, is home to an annual chocolate festival and a yard-of-the-month contest sponsored by the local chamber of commerce.