Boersen Farms Ordered to Pay Creditors

Boersen Farms Allowed to Use $629K From Land Sales to Pay Two Creditors

Todd Neeley
By  Todd Neeley , DTN Environmental Editor
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Zeeland, Michigan-based Boersen Farms will be allowed to sell land to pay creditors. (DTN graphic by Nick Scalise)

LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- A federal court ruled on Monday that a restraining order in place since 2019 on Zeeland, Michigan-based Boersen Farms would remain in place after the farm was allowed to sell tracts of land to pay two separate creditors a total of about $629,000.

In December 2024, Boersen Farms asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Western Michigan to allow a land sale to pay creditors, including a Utah-based equipment leasing company that the farm owes $33.2 million.

On Monday, the court handed down an order to allow Boersen Farms to sell land in Ottawa County, Michigan, for $450,000 with the net proceeds of the sale paid to TFG-Michigan, L.P.

Boersen Farms leased more than 120 center pivots and other equipment from TFG, and according to court records has yet to pay for the leases.

TFG sued Boersen Farms in 2017 and later received a court order preventing the farm from selling property as well as a garnishment on the debt.

In addition, the court ruled on Monday that Boersen could sell land in Battle Creek, Michigan, for $179,000, with the net proceeds going to B&K Holdings, LLC, the assignee of First Farmer's Bank and Trust and Ceres Partners. Ceres is an investment management firm focused on food and agriculture and is based in South Bend, Indiana.

The court said in its order that Boersen Farms cannot receive any proceeds from the sales.

In a motion filed by Boersen Farms with the court in December 2024, the farm said it had been liquidating property and paying proceeds to "secured creditors" including TFG.

Boersen Farms has faced lawsuits for years from companies that provided products and services to the farm that once operated about 83,000 acres. Those lawsuits were filed in an attempt to force Boersen Farms to pay money owed to the companies.

The farm was moving toward Chapter 11 in 2017 on the $145 million in loans owed to CHS Capital LLC, but a then newly formed lender based in Zeeland, LT Capital LLC, agreed to take on the Boersen Farm debt to CHS.

Earlier in 2024, a lawsuit alleging Boersen Farms leased farm equipment and sold it to a third party even though the farm didn't own it. The lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed on a technicality, https://www.dtnpf.com/….

According to court documents, two limited liability corporations owned by the farm and operated by Dennis Boersen's wife, Stacy, and son, Nicholas, are the subject of an ongoing crop insurance fraud investigation, https://www.dtnpf.com/….

The IRS executed a search warrant on June 9, 2021, at Boersen Farms, https://www.dtnpf.com/….

Read more on DTN:

"Boersen Farms Liquidating to Pay Debts," https://www.dtnpf.com/….

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

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Todd Neeley

Todd Neeley
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