MASSENA — The future of Ag Pro, a soybean and oilseed processing plant, appears uncertain, but investors hope the business will be sold in the next few months.

A deal to sell the plant is under negotiation. Company officials would not release details Monday, but said they hope everything will be settled early next year.

"We're hoping that by the first of the year we'll have a signed contract," said Morristown attorney Mahlon T. Clements, one of Ag Pro's investors. "We're making headway now."

Mr. Clements said the sale should be closed a few months after that.

In 2002, Ag Pro started processing soybeans into animal feed after years of planning with the St. Lawrence County Industrial Development Agency. The IDA gave the company a 10-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes deal. Under terms of the agreement, Ag Pro paid taxes on the value of the land alone for the first five years and was to pay taxes on the overall property based on 50 percent of the assessed value for the latter five years.

Ag Pro was about a year and a half behind on tax payments when the IDA canceled the plan in October.

The company also never created 17 steady jobs, a stipulation that was part of the agreement for receiving the IDA benefits. The number of jobs at the plant has varied year to year, according to Raymond H. Fountain, IDA chief executive officer. For the past few years, the operation has generated three or four jobs, he said.

The company also defaulted on a loan several years ago. Ag Pro owes HSBC between $1 million and $2 million, as well as millions more to its private investors, according to Mr. Clements. The loan from HSBC accounts for approximately 10 percent of Ag Pro's debt, he said.

The plant's investors are trying to pay back the debts, mainly through efforts to refinance the loans or sell the business. Company officials have been trying to sell the business for almost three years, with little success. Deals have fallen through at least twice, according to Mr. Clements.

"We're struggling along," Ag Pro President Fred D. Pollard said. "Production has basically stopped."

If the sale goes through, Ag Pro's name might change but the plant most likely will continue to be used for soybean processing, according to Mr. Clements.

The plant produces animal feed and crude soy oil that is refined. The oil is used in salad dressings, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. The plant can process 150 tons of soybeans a day.

Without the plant, farmers who grow soybeans will have to pay to ship the beans elsewhere to be processed. Most soy processing plants are in the Midwest, but there is one in Geneva.

The north country has about 100,000 acres of land suitable for soybeans, Mr. Clements said. Because of Ag Pro's financial difficulties, most soy farmers planted corn instead, he said.

"As soon as the sale takes place, we'll begin production again," he said. "We're confident that the sale will happen; it just hasn't happened as fast as we'd hoped."