More than two years after their last harvest, Manitoba sugar beet farmers are still waiting for some of the money they are owed.
Rogers Sugar Ltd. has not finished paying the growers, even though the company shut down its Winnipeg plant in early 1997.
Ken Yuill, a former sugar beet grower from Portage la Prairie, Man., said Rogers Sugar still owes farmers for five to 10 percent of the crop.
A spokesperson from Lantic Sugar, Rogers’ sister company that is handling the payments, did not return calls.
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Yuill said the delay is partly due to the way the company sold the sugar. Traditionally, the Winnipeg plant sold much of the sugar in bulk to U.S. soft drink bottling plants.
When the plant closed, it put a higher proportion of sugar into bags ranging from two to 40 kilograms, said Yuill. The company just finished selling the packages in September 1998.
Farmers believe they should get a premium because packaged sugar sells for more than bulk sugar, Yuill said. Their contract with the company made arrangements for sharing returns.
Yuill wouldn’t say how much money farmers believe they are owed.
“That’s a little bit of a point of contention …,” he said. “They have made us an offer and we haven’t found it acceptable.”
Under their contract, growers help pay for packaging and transport of the sugar. Yuill said these costs were higher than if more of the crop had been sold in bulk.
But he said the company is charging growers for some expenses they feel are unfair. Growers will not be paid interest, according to their contract.
Before the plant closed, the company would normally pay growers for most of the crop after harvest, then make interim payments as the sugar was sold.
Yuill hopes to meet with Rogers and Lantic officials early in 1999.
