| WORLAND, Wyo. (AP) - The Washakie Beet Growers Association
has reached agreement in principle to lease the Holly Sugar
Factory in Worland. "The board expended a lot of effort
to put this together, and they are very pleased with it,"
association President Dick McKamey said.
Holly's parent, Imperial Sugar, is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy
and had indicated it would close the mill unless growers
leased it.
The lease will keep the plant open for this year's beet
crop and prevent Holly workers from losing jobs, McKamey said
Thursday, when the agreement was announced.
The Holly staff will begin contracting immediately for the
2001 crop. Terms of the contract will remain the same as last
year, he said.
The association will operate as an agricultural cooperative
and will have title to all the sugar produced.
While closure of the plan would have been difficult for
growers, it would have had a much greater effect on the
community, McKamey said.
Producers still have substantial problems to overcome, he
said.
Imperial has withheld and will not pay one-half of the
remaining growers' payments for the 2000 crop. |