The Government of Barbados has withdrawn from the December 2023 agreements that would have placed the sugar industry under joint cooperative and worker ownership, according to CoopEnergy Barbados, leaving the future of the sector’s factory and estate land unsettled.

CoopEnergy chairman Trevor Browne made the announcement in a statement issued late Friday (Sept 18). The cooperative said both the Government and the Barbados Agricultural Management Company (BAMC) had pulled out of contracts meant to move BAMC’s operations into two new companies owned jointly by CoopEnergy and industry workers.

Cabinet approved the shareholders’ agreements, which were signed on Dec 18, 2023, coinciding with the International Monetary Fund’s approval of a loan for Barbados. They created Barbados Energy and Sugar Company (BESCO) Ltd to run the factory and Agricultural Business Company (ABC) Ltd to oversee about 4,500 acres of farmland, Barbados Today reported. CoopEnergy said the divestment stemmed from a condition of the IMF loan and noted that BAMC had been costing taxpayers roughly BDS $20 million a year in subsidies.

According to CoopEnergy, BAMC’s first formal letter after signing came on Aug, 18, 2025, and said it would void both shareholder agreements immediately. CoopEnergy replied that the contracts required mediation rather than unilateral cancellation. That process ran from March to August this year and ended without agreement. The cooperative also said it was pressed to put up money while BAMC withheld the financial records and asset registry the agreements required.

The dispute has been public for some time. In March 2025, then agriculture minister Indar Weir accused the cooperative of making excuses for not investing an agreed $16 million. In a paid advertisement last November, BAMC said public disclosure of the memorandum of understanding’s terms breached confidentiality and caused doubt about the partnership.

Browne told Barbados Today the project “never took off” because the cooperative was never given workable paperwork. He told the Sunday Sun he does not understand why the Government changed course, and that CoopEnergy has no plan of its own but would return if given the chance.

Agriculture Minister Shantal Munro-Knight, contacted on Saturday, said she had only just seen the release and was seeking details. She declined further comment and said ABC chairman Clyde Mascoll was off the island. No Government statement had been located at the time of writing.

The Barbados Workers Union said it is not a party to the contracts and will not comment on them, but will press for any transition, divestment or restructuring to honour commitments made to workers.

The Government has not said how it will proceed with a divestment that CoopEnergy links to the IMF programme, or what will happen next to the factory, the farmland and the workers who had been promised a stake.