Jun 24, 2016

Zelenka Farms Files for Bankruptcy Protection

According to a report from Dow Jones Business News, Zelenka Farms has filed for bankruptcy protection, blaming an unusually wet spring.

Lawyers who put Zelenka Farms into chapter 11 protection earlier this month told a judge they are looking for buyers to take over the Irving, Texas-based company’s six farms, which employ 1,519 people in Tennessee, Oregon and other states.

During a court hearing last Monday, Zelenka Farms bankruptcy lawyer Holland O’Neil said the company’s financial troubles began in 2014 but worsened after an unexpectedly rainy April and May, leaving it without enough money to pay down part of a loan before a June 3 deadline.

Zelenka Farms and several affiliated companies face roughly $187.7 million in debt, according to documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Dallas.

Zelenka Farms officials are negotiating with several potential buyers who could purchase the company’s operations by an Aug. 8 deadline, O’Neil said. In court papers, the company proposed to hold a July 25 auction if several offers trickle in.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Harlin Hale said Zelenka Farms officials could begin spending part of a $35 million bankruptcy loan. Company officials have also proposed to continue making payments to some vendors including chemical suppliers, shipping firms and plant breeders who enable Zelenka Farms to grow plants using their patented and trademarked DNA.