Monette Farms Puts 274K Acres for Sale

LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- Saskatchewan-based Monette Farms Ltd. will be putting 274,000 acres up for sale as part of an insolvency restructuring process, as one of the largest farming operations in North America asked the Court of King's Bench of Alberta to allow the listing of the properties.

The 350,000-acre farming giant became insolvent when on April 15, 2026, a senior facilities agreement matured at a cost of $829.5 million, according to court documents filed in the case. When such an agreement matures, it means all outstanding principal and interest on the loan comes due.

Monette Farms filed a request with the court on June 1, 2026, to start what is called the sale and investment solicitation process, to gauge interest in the farm's business and assets.

The farm previously failed to sell 12 different ranches at auction after the company received no offers for the properties because of ongoing title concerns.

EXPEDITED PROCESS REQUESTED

Monette Farms is requesting court approval of an expedited process to make property sales under $30 million per transaction in British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, as well as in Montana, Arizona and Colorado by June 29, 2026.

This would allow the farm to list for sale all 274,000 acres, although it does not mean the farm is necessarily selling everything.

In addition, Monette Farms has asked the court to extend the current creditor stay that expires on June 19, 2026, to Nov. 13, 2026.

Monette filed for protection under Canada's Companies Creditors Arrangement Act, which is like Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S., except it provides a court-supervised restructuring and the process usually takes less time to resolve than Chapter 11.

The court approved the farm's application for up to $90 million in debtor-in-possession financing on May 1, 2026, to keep the business running through spring planting.

In an affidavit filed with the court, farm owner Darrel Monette said the cost of fertilizer and crop inputs, compounded by suppliers demanding cash on delivery, led to a liquidity problem for the operation.

In his affidavit, Monette explained how his farm reached the point of default.

Between 2017 and 2022, the company expanded using debt, growing revenue from $45 million to $198 million and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, from $20 million to $83 million.

By 2024, Monette revenue hit $347 million but EBITDA collapsed to just $37 million. He said the crush came from expansion into lower-margin produce and cattle segments, high interest rates and flat real property valuations.

Monette Farms then attempted to raise about $400 million in capital by selling a minority stake. The affidavit said it generated market interest, but the company was unable to find the money.

According to court documents, Monette bought his first quarter of land in 2004 and incorporated the operation in 2009 as Monette Farms. He is the CEO and principal of Monette Farms.

By 2016, he diversified the company, which produces grains, pulses, beef, seeds and produce in different locations.

By the fall of 2020, Monette Farms had up to 450 people working for it operationally and 55,000 seeded acres. Based in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, Monette Farms is now a large ranching and agricultural corporation operating in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and British Columbia.

Monette began expanding into the U.S. under Monette Farms USA Inc. in 2019 in Havre, Montana. Since then, the company expanded its ownership of farming and ranching operations in the U.S. to Billings, Montana, as well as Tonopah, Arizona.

Read more on DTN:

"Monette Farms Faces $900M Insolvency,"https://www.dtnpf.com/…

Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com

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