The Western Sugar Cooperative was originally founded around 1903 by Charles Boettcher as the Great Western Sugar Company and opened its first sugar beet plant in Loveland, Colorado. The plant closed in 1985, when the company was purchased by the sugar firm Tate & Lyle at which time the name was changed to the Western Sugar Company. In 2002, over 1000 sugar beet growers purchased the company creating the grower owned cooperative.