| The Rocky Mountain Grower Association, which represents
local Holly sugar beet growers, is sending a letter to growers this week
to see if they are interested in forming a cooperative to pursue a
purchase of the three sugar factories from Imperial Holly. The Rocky
Mountain Grower Association represents sugar beet growers for the
Torrington and Worland factories in Wyoming as well as the Sidney, Mont.,
factory. Those would be the factories they would target.
According to David Hinman, president of the Platte Valley WyoBraska
Sugar Beet Growers Association, the idea is only in the preliminary
stages. "At this point, we are only sending out a letter to see how
much interest there is," he said.
Hinman explained they are pursuing this idea because they are concerned
about the future of the sugar beet industry. "We are looking at
things down the road that would improve participation in the sugar beet
industry in these areas. We want to make sure our plants stay open."
Hinman said he would like to see Holly, particularly the Torrington
factory, increase sugar beet acres.
The grower association is working with Randon Wilson, an attorney based
in Salt Lake City, who is currently representing The Rocky Mountain Sugar
Beet Growers Cooperative in a proposed purchase of Western Sugar factories
in Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana.
Wilson said he will be sending out a letter asking the Holly growers to
send $2 an acre to fund a feasibility study. Wilson said the response to
the letter will determine how interested growers would be in the
cooperative. If there is enough interest, Wilson said he could move
forward with a feasibility study that would determine how much Imperial
Holly would charge for the three factories, in addition to other factors.
Rick Griffith, ag manager at Holly Sugar in Torrington, stressed that
the possible formation of a cooperative to purchase the factories isn't
Holly-driven.
"The Rocky Mountain Grower Association representing growers in
Sidney, Mont., Worland and Torrington are exploring this idea to see if
there is any interest," he said. "We will conduct business as
usual. We plan to start contracting acres shortly after the first of the
year for the 2001 crop."
Griffith and Hinman both said the purchase is not something that would
happen immediately. "It could be a year or two down the road,"
Hinman said. "We have a lot of work to do first."
Hinman said if the grower cooperative is successful in purchasing the
Western Sugar company, 89 percent of the sugar industry in the United
States would be owned by cooperatives.
"This makes it harder for Imperial Holly to continue to
compete," he said. "We are just looking at things we could do to
stay competitive." |