"This is an agreement between leadership in both chambers and the governor," said Senate Majority Leader Dan DeGrow, R-Port Huron, who announced the loan. "If we didn't do this, within a year we'd have no sugar beet growers in Michigan and the sugar beet plants would cease to exist."

The five-year, $5 million worth of interest-free state loans come from the state's 2001-2002 Department of Agriculture budget, Sen. DeGrow said. The budget must still be officially approved by the legislature.

The money will help individual growers to buy the plants from a troubled Texas company. A cooperative representing 1,400 sugar beet growers signed a letter of intent in late March to buy the capital stock of Michigan Sugar from Texas-based Imperial Sugar Co., which filed for financial reorganization under Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Michigan Sugar's four plants are in Croswell, Sebewaing, Caro and Carrollton.

The deadline for growers to become members of the cooperative is today.

Growers sign up for the co-op based on acreage and must provide a $50 per acre subscription fee, said Richard Leach, executive vice president of the Saginaw-based Michigan Sugar Beet Growers Inc. Growers must pay an additional $150 an acre by August.

Mr. Leach said he was thrilled to hear about the $5 million in loan money.

"It's to help the growers with the equity portion for the loan they have to come up with, the $200 an acre they have to come up with (to be part of the cooperative)," he said.

The plants will cost $65 million. The cooperative needs to sign on at least 110,000 acres, enough to operate the four plants. Mr. Leach said he didn't know how many acres the cooperative had secured by Thursday.

The cooperative also is working with financial institutions to secure additional loans and bonds.

The sale is expected to be complete on or before Sept. 1 and must be approved by a federal bankruptcy court.

Sugar beet farmer Dave Brusie, 69, of North Branch said the loans will help farmers come up with their share of the purchase price. Farmers are expected to raise $22 million to $25 million.

Mr. Brusie, who farms 1,450 acres with his three sons, including 350 acres of sugar beets, has signed up to be part of the cooperative and sent in his subscription fee of $17,500.

"The way our farm prices are, it's just hard to scrape up that kind of money," he said. "If they've got $5 million toward it, this will certainly help."