Johanns

I. Factual and Procedural History

Pacific processed sugar beets during the 1998, 1999, and 2000 crop years at its only factory in Moses Lake, Washing- ton. Facing substantial financial problems, Pacific wrote to one of its creditors in January 2001, describing its financial problems, stating that Pacific could not continue to operate in the coming years, and proposing liquidation of the company. Pacific stopped processing sugar at Moses Lake in February 2001, had no sugar beet crops in 2002 or 2003, and never resumed operations. In June 2001, Pacific sold the Moses 1 All statutory references herein are to title 7, United States Code, unless otherwise noted, and therefore omit “7 U.S.C.” from the citation. 1632 AMALGAMATED SUGAR v. VILSACK Lake facility to Central Leasing for $2.1 million and leased the plant back with a twelve-month option to repurchase the facility.2 Also in June 2001, Pacific unsuccessfully attempted to secure capital to continue as a sugar beet processor. On July 23, 2001, Pacific was administratively dissolved by the Secretary of State of the State of Washington for failure to file an annual license renewal application, as required by…