| Employees at Michigan Sugar Co. are expected to begin slicing sugar
beets at 7 a.m. today under a lease agreement with the Michigan Sugar Beet
Growers Association. The sale of four Thumb area processing plants to the
association still is pending, but Richard Leach, executive vice president
of the growers association, said all that's left to work out are the
operational details.
"What's set us back now is the fact that some of the board members
are out harvesting," he said. There are 13 members on an interim
board of the association that represents about 1,400 farmers.
Michigan Sugar, a subsidiary of Texas-based Imperial Sugar, has
processing plants in Croswell, Caro, Carrollton and Sebewaing.
Imperial Sugar filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The company came out of bankruptcy Sept. 7, but Mr. Leach said that
wouldn't affect the deal to buy the plants.
The growers association leased the plants so the farmers could process
their own beets, a process that will continue for this harvest until
February.
Under the lease agreement, the association agreed to pay the cost of
running the plant as well as $4 a ton for marketing the sugar.
Reggie VanSickle, an agriculturist at the Croswell plant, said he
expects the harvest to get in full swing by Oct. 20. The plant processes
between 3,700 and 4,000 tons of beets a day into about 500 tons of sugar.
"It's hard to imagine that much sugar coming out of
Croswell," he said. "Think about how little you put into your
coffee."
The Saginaw-based growers association offered in March to pay $65
million for the capital stock of Michigan Sugar. The letter of intent
specified $55 million be paid when the deal was closed with $10 million in
deferred payments.
Money to buy Michigan Sugar was to be generated by acreage fees paid by
the growers association members, as well as state and federal grants and
bank loans.
Mr. Leach said the association still is signing up more farm acreage to
make local banks feel more comfortable about loaning the association the
money. He said they need to contract about 115,000 acres. About 102,000
acres already have signed on.
"The farmers may not understand they need to contract with us if
they want their beets processed," he said. |