The Bluegrass Ridge Farm: Missouri's First Commercial Wind Farm

Wind power is nothing new and many Americans have seen what the destructive force of wind can do. But, today, as more and more people seek more energy efficient, green ways to live and cost effective ways to find power, wind farms are beinning to dot the American countryside. The Bluegrass Ridge Farm near King City, Missouri, is the Show-Me State's first commercial wind farm and the wind turbines are generating more than just electricity.

Wind farms are designed to create a new source of renewable energy, something beyond the coal powered electric plants of yesteryear. Wind farms utilize a natural force and by doing so, wind farms also can cut air pollution as they produce clean electric power.

The Bluegrass Ridge Farm near tiny King City stretches across the fertile Missouri farmland over 9,000 acres. Those acres are filled with wind turbines - a modern version of the traditional rural windmills - with blades that are as long as a football field. Those massive spinning blades - powered by the wind - create electricity for the surrounding area in a clean, effcient manner. Bluegrass Ridge has twenty seven turbines, three more than the average.

That's not the sole benefit of this wind farm, however. In the region located well to the northeast of giant, sprawling Kansas City and not too far from the historic river front town of St. Joseph, King City is the market center for a region that has been traditionally rural. The area once was known for producing both cattle and grain. With most of St. Joseph's stockyards now just history, raising cattle has become less lucrative in recent years.

Located in Gentry County, King City is far from the major highways and interstates that criss cross Missouri and the quiet rural life here hearkens back to an earlier age for many. But such bucolic bliss doesn't bring many visitors - or much money -into the region so the new wind farm is a blessing in more ways than one.