The Equestrian News
October/November Issue

By Peggy Hosking and Dennis Bezanson

Did you know that there’s a bankruptcy provision specifically tailored to farming activities? The provision applies to the breeding and raising of horses for resale, boarding, training, renting and giving riding lessons as well as for those used in traditional farming activities.

Chapter 12 of the Bankruptcy Code offers relief to those who make their living from “farming operations,” which includes farming, tillage of the soil, dairy farming, ranching, production or raising of crops, poultry, or livestock and production of poultry or livestock products in an unmanufactured state.

The courts have considerable leeway in defining a farm. Dog kennels, raising horses for resale, training, boarding, renting horses and giving riding lessons have all fallen within the definition of  “farming operations.”

Chapter 12 is perhaps the most  flexible and generous of the debt adjustment chapters under the Bankruptcy Act, and it gives specific relief to the “family” farmer — an individual or corporate entity engaged in a farming operation whose aggregate debts do not exceed $3,544,525.

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