Disaster Relief Declared for Sugar Beet Growers
Written by Andrew-Rossi on August 7, 2017
During a special call-in meeting last Thursday, the Wyoming Business Council Board of Directors unanimously approved an economic disaster declaration and loans that total almost 5.4 million dollars for sugar beet growers in northwest Wyoming.
The Western Sugar Cooperative submitted the loan request following intense fall rains and a hard winter freeze stretching from December through February, which devastated the grower-owned cooperative’s sugar beet harvest.
The economic disaster declaration and loan funds are applicable to Western Sugar growers in Big Horn and Park counties. Each producer will need to complete a loan application by Sept. 15. The 10-year loans will include 3.5 percent in annual interest.
Western Sugar is owned by 850 growers in Wyoming, Colorado, Montana and Nebraska and operates in five Wyoming counties: Big Horn, Goshen, Laramie, Park and Platte. Wyoming is the ninth largest producer of sugar beets in the country.
