The man at the center of the ethanol building boom is about as homegrown as the cornfields that surround this little river town. So it's fitting that he and Granite Falls, 120 miles west of the Twin Cities, would share in the bounty brought by this homegrown fuel.

Ron Fagen was born 57 years ago in Maynard MN, a town of about 370 people eight miles away. He never went to college. Instead, he was drafted in 1967 and served as a construction engineering specialist with the Army in Vietnam.

When he came home, he worked in road construction, helping to build Interstate 90. He met an inspector for the state, Bud Pulsifer, and started a construction business with him, building grain bins and other projects. In 1988, he bought Pulsifer out and built his first ethanol plant in Marshall.

Today, his burgeoning company, Fagen Inc., is riding the crest of the ethanol boom. Brian Jennings, executive director of the American Coalition for Ethanol in Sioux Falls, S.D., says Fagen's company is building seven of every 10 ethanol plants in the country. "Ron and his company are central to the U.S. ethanol industry," says Jennings.

Fagen is an unabashed cheerleader for ethanol. "I think it's the best thing that's happened to the farmer since the combine," is a favorite phrase of his.

Ethanol's been a very good thing for Fagen Inc., too. The company expects to record sales of at least $750 million for the fiscal year ended Saturday, up from $420 million in 2005. Ron Fagen projects sales of around $1 billion for fiscal 2007. He says the company has enough backlog to stay busy until 2010.

Fagen Inc. has built 46 ethanol factories. Another 27 are under construction, and nine more are slated to begin rising by the end of the year.

But Fagen's bet on ethanol doesn't end there. Ron Fagen is a cofounder and 25 percent owner of US BioEnergy, an ethanol manufacturer that has its main offices in Inver Grove Heights. Two months ago, US BioEnergy disclosed plans to raise up to $300 million in an initial public offering. Fagen also has equity stakes in all the ethanol plants his company has built since 2001.