Bruce Rastetter
Bruce L. Rastetter | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1957 near Iowa Falls, Iowa, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Entrepreneur, agribusiness specialist |
| Known for | Founder of Heartland Pork Enterprises; founder of Hawkeye Energy Holdings; founder of Summit Agriculture Group; president of the Iowa Board of Regents (2013–2017) |
Bruce L. Rastetter (born 1957) is an American entrepreneur specializing in agribusiness and agriculture. He is the founder of Heartland Pork Enterprises and established Hawkeye Energy Holdings, which became one of the leading ethanol producers in the United States before he divested 80% of the company. Rastetter also created Summit Agriculture Group, concentrating on carbon capture and storage initiatives for ethanol facilities located in Iowa.
Known as a significant Republican megadonor and a key political influencer often referred to as an "Iowa kingmaker," Rastetter has acted as an agricultural consultant to Donald Trump. He held the position of president of the Iowa Board of Regents from 2013 to 2017, overseeing the administration of Iowa’s three public universities.
Early life and education
Rastetter was born near Iowa Falls, Iowa, and spent his childhood on a small family farm close to Buckeye. He pursued higher education at the University of Iowa, where he majored in political science.
Business
In 1994, Rastetter merged his operations in feed management, construction, and swine production into a single entity named Heartland Pork Enterprises. Although the company experienced multimillion-dollar losses, it was ultimately sold to Christensen Farms in 2004.
He launched Hawkeye Energy Holdings in 2003, which grew into a prominent ethanol producer with plants situated in Iowa Falls, Fairbank, Menlo, and Shell Rock. The Menlo and Shell Rock facilities were sold to Flint Hills Resources in 2010.
Rastetter also founded Summit Agriculture Group, managing agricultural ventures across the United States and planning to build an ethanol plant in Brazil. Additionally, he initiated Summit Carbon Solutions to develop a pipeline designed to transport captured carbon dioxide from Iowa ethanol plants to underground storage locations in North Dakota. His political contributions have attracted attention amid landowners’ opposition concerning the pipeline project.
In June 2024, the Iowa Utilities Board granted approval for the permit related to the contentious Summit pipeline.
Politics
As a major megadonor to the Republican Party, Rastetter contributed more than $1.5 million to various state and federal political campaigns from 2003 through 2015, earning him recognition as an "Iowa kingmaker." In 2015, he organized the first Iowa Agriculture Summit aimed at discussing critical agricultural policy topics such as GMOs, nutrition labeling, food waste reduction, and biotechnology advancements. The summit drew prominent political figures including Mike Huckabee, Chris Christie, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Rick Santorum, Scott Walker, and Jeb Bush.
Rastetter was appointed to the Iowa Board of Regents in 2011 and served as its president from 2013 until his term concluded in 2017. His leadership period was marked by controversy involving plans by three of his companies to develop extensive farms on inhabited land in Tanzania and efforts to engage Iowa State University in research supporting these projects. Ultimately, this initiative did not come to fruition.
By 2017, Rastetter held roles on numerous boards and advisory councils including Cultivation Corridor, AltEnergy LLC, Rural American Fund, American Agriculture and Energy Council, Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, and Iowa State University’s college of agriculture.
In January 2017, before the presidential transition at the White House, Rastetter publicly expressed opposition to significant mergers within the agriculture sector involving companies such as Bayer, Monsanto, Dow Chemical, ChemChina, and Syngenta. Serving as an advisor to Donald Trump, he cautioned that these large-scale consolidations could cause lasting damage to the agricultural industry.
Personal life
Rastetter remained unmarried throughout his life, a choice he later came to regret. He has a passion for hunting.
He established the Bruce Rastetter Chair in Agricultural Entrepreneurship at Iowa State University and has made philanthropic contributions to both the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa. The Bruce Rastetter exhibit building at the Iowa State Fair, bearing his name, honors his $1 million donation. In 2008, he contributed $5 million toward enhancements of the Hawkeye football training facilities.
See also
External links
- Summit Agricultural Group official website
- Cultivation Corridor official website
- Iowa Ag Summit official website