First Payments Mailed to Oilseed Growers who sold their crops to Sustanable Systems LLC of Culbertson, Montana

The Montana Department of Agriculture mailed partial payment checks totaling $611,770 Friday to 40 farmers in Montana and North Dakota who delivered 2008 safflower crops to Sustainable Systems LLC at Culbertson and were not paid.

The first payment distributes money collected from a Montana surety bond as well as funds received through liquidation of company inventory related to the seed and products including Montola-brand cooking oil, said department Director Ron de Yong. The plant has ceased operations.

"We expect additional payments as the liquidation effort proceeds, but we wanted to get the available money into the hands of farmers now so they can use it for their 2009 crops," de Yong said.

All 22 Montana growers who delivered seed to the plant will share in a portion of a $113,000 surety bond, with amounts determined by a percentage of the amounts owed to growers. The North Dakota Public Service Commission is administering bond payments to North Dakota growers under that state’s laws.

Farmers in both states will receive a share of $498,770 collected to date from the liquidation effort currently underway at the Culbertson plant. The goal of the first payment was to make sure growers have received at least 40 percent of contracted amounts owed to them by the company, said Andy Gray, Commodity Services Bureau chief at the department. Montana growers will receive nearly 64 percent of amounts owed with the proceeds from the surety bond, which the state received Thursday.

Sustainable Systems laid off most of its staff earlier this spring. Company officials said they were unable to receive financing to resolve cash flow problems. The company has been cooperating with the Montana department to liquidate agricultural assets under the state’s grain law.
For more information about the liquidation effort, contact Andy Gray at (406) 444-3730 or by e-mail at [email protected].