Basin Sugar Beet Growers Receive Financial Relief

Several families in the Big Horn Basin will get some relief from this year’s harsh winter weather, which devastated last year’s sugar beet harvest.

The Wyoming Business Council Board of Directors voted unanimously yesterday to support the 60 families with ownership stake in Wyoming Sugar, an agricultural cooperative in the Big Horn Basin.

The state’s economic development agency will make available almost $5.7 million dollars in loans to provide relief after intense fall rains and a hard winter freeze decimated last year’s harvest in Big Horn, Fremont and Washakie counties.

On average, each loan will be about $158,000, though that amount will range from $13,000 to nearly $500,000. The 10-year loans will include 3.5 percent in annual interest.

Josh Keefe, the agency’s economic development finance manager, will be at the Worland Community Center on Tuesday, April 4 to visit with those affected by the disaster. The deadline for submitting a loan application is May 15.