WORLAND, Wyo. (AP) Rising sugar prices renewed the hopes of farmers buying a sugar beet processing plant from Imperial Sugar Co., which has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Growers are pretty enthusiastic that maybe weve turned the corner on these low prices, said Richard Klein, a member of the Washakie Beet Growers Association.

The association plans to buy the plant from Sugar Land, Texas-based Imperial Sugar, and run it as a cooperative. The deal should be official by March 1, Klein said.

Farmers are expected to commit a certain number of acres to grow sugar beets for the factory.

Our field man is contracting beet acres right now, Klein said.

Optimism makes it a lot easier to raise beets and get paid for them, he said. Winter moisture will have a lot to do with farmer enthusiasm next spring and summer, he said.

Maybe a lot of things are coming together at the same time, he said.

Sugar prices are expected to slowly rise over the next decade as the market recovers from the current glut that caused its fall, a North Dakota State University study shows.

Wholesale U.S. sugar prices should bottom out 21.7 cents per pound this year and rise to 24.2 cents a pound in 2005 and 26.6 cents a pound in 2010, the study said.

Refined sugar fetched 26.7 cents a pound in 1999, before oversupply forced prices down.

Meanwhile, inspections have been completed on the Imperial plant.

The factory is in good shape. Its an old factory, but its a very well maintained factory, Klein said.

Under the deal, farmers can own shares of stock in the plant instead of raising sugar beets. As the cooperative grows, however, farmers may be required to own shares of stock, he said.

The cooperative will be called the Wyoming Sugar Company Cooperative.

The Worland factory can handle 22,000 to 23,000 acres of beets, and we have a goal of 18,000 acres this coming year, Klein said.