ROCK PORT, Mo. (AP) _ Vehicles in this northwest Missouri farm community are likely to be pickup trucks, and ``green'' is the color of a John Deere tractor.

But when it comes to alternative energy, little Rock Port _ population about 1,400 _ is a pioneer: it's the site of a wind farm that's projected to generate more electricity than the town uses in a year.

Four 250-foot wind turbines on the town's western bluffs are the source of Rock Port's alt-energy designation. The massive turbines linked to the city-owned utility were installed early this year by St. Louis-based Wind Capital Group, with financing from Deere & Co., the world's biggest manufacturer of farm equipment.

``We are always going to be agriculture-based. We are always going to be rural,'' said Eric Chamberlain, project manager for the Loess Hills Wind Farm. ``But there are things we can do certainly, and we're doing it.

``I mean, when you remove your carbon footprint for the entire town for electricity production, that's a pretty big deal.''

The wind turbines in Rock Port are estimated to generate about 16 million kilowatt hours of energy a year, or about 3 million more than what Rock Port typically uses. That's thanks to northwest Missouri gusts that put the region, where Wind Capital has three other, larger wind farms, among the windiest parts of Missouri, which ranks 20th in the nation in terms of wind potential.