Western Sugar has plants in Billings and Lovell, Wyo., and two each in Nebraska and Colorado.

In a short press release, the Board of Rocky Mountain Sugar Growers Cooperative said that because of lagging acreage, they have entered into negotiations with Tate & Lyle for an adjustment to the purchase price for the Western Sugar Co.

Tate & Lyle PLC of London is the largest sweetener company in the world. It bought the Great Western Sugar Co. in 1985, which was in bankruptcy at the time. Western has operated the six refineries since. Tate and Lyle, having suffered revenue setbacks in the past year and a loss of stock value, began divesting itself of overseas properties in Australia, Zambia and the United States.

Rick Dorn of Hardin, chairman of the co-op, said Wednesday that planting of the crop is complete and that the growers were trying to negotiate a price. A value based on production, he said. They (Tate & Lyle) are talking to us. That is valuable.

Dorn declined to put a price on the company now.

We are exploring that avenue, but I would not put a number to it, he said. There is a willingness to talk and resolve this based on the production value.

Tate & Lyle offered Western Sugar Co. to its 1,100 growers for $78 million or half of its estimated liquidation value. In early February, sugar beet farmers in four states subscribed 150,000 acres to the growers cooperative to buy Western. The 1,100 farmers committed themselves to invest $185 per acre of beets.

One hundred and fifty thousand acres was our threshold, Dorn said. Now we have 130,000 in the ground. There is good to be had from this if we can reduce the price.

Growers in Montana and Wyoming were strong supporters in subscribing acres, he said, but those in Colorado and Nebraska lagged in their commitment of acres.

Dorn that Tate & Lyle is a financially sound company and has a contract with growers to operate the plants through the 2002 crop year. The contract runs concurrently with the U.S. farm bill, which sets the support price for sugar and is the basis for the participatory contracts written between the company and the growers.

The co-op is still shooting for an end of June closing, the press release said.

The board emphasized that the continued support of the growers is extremely important. Once the current negotiations are concluded, all growers will be advised concerning the new purchase arrangements.

The sale of the Western Sugar Co. to its growers was delayed March 31 by incomplete financial arrangements. At the time, the two parties extended the closing date to June 30. The delay in closing was attributed to delays in obtaining bank funding because of delays in obtaining individual appraisals.

The board then encouraged all growers to plant on their regular schedule and to prepare for cooperative ownership as the loans are completed and the closing concluded.

Planting normally begins around April 15.

The sugar industry is troubled because there is too much sugar available. In the United States, the market price has fallen below the government loan price, which resulted in large forfeitures to the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2000.

Imperial Sugar Co., the largest U.S. producer, in mid-January filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection while it reorganizes. Imperial is the parent company of Holly Sugar Corp., which has refineries in Sidney and Worland and Torrington, Wyo. Holly just recently agreed to rent the Worland plant to local growers rather than close it. Beet growers in the Sidney area are considering a buy -out of that plant from Holly.