Treg is a third-generation farmer, but he and his wife Beth started their own operation from scratch 20 years ago when they were first married.
“We fought hard to build from a few cows to over 150 cows, farming over 2,000 acres, and grazing over 1,200 acres of grass. We were able to move back to where Treg grew up and rent his uncle's farm ground and pasture for many years which was his dream, because it was ground his grandfather farmed,” said Beth.
“We had been struggling with the thought of leaving farming for several years because of the constant stress and damage it was doing to our health and family. But the final straw was the bank refusing to work with us when we needed to let go of row crops that were dragging our finances down with the continued drought conditions...When the drought was causing us to struggle year after year, we knew we needed to restructure and let go of more row crop and focus on the hay, which was more reliable with cash flow, but the banks were too unfamiliar with how alfalfa worked, and panicked, refusing to understand that alfalfa was not planted every year like other crops.”
In February 2020, Treg went was referred to a Legal Aid Bankruptcy clinic by the Center for Rural Affairs. His lawyer, Phil, advised him to file for Chapter 12 bankruptcy, which would reorganize his debt while keeping his cashflow so he could continue farming.
“Legal Aid of Nebraska and [our attorney] Phil was there for us, standing up for us with the banks when they continued to try and take advantage of us," Beth said, “I saw my husband slowly losing his confidence to do anything at all the longer it had gone on. Working with Phil and the other lawyers who assisted us, we gained our confidence to continue and saw the possibility of going on.”
With help from their Legal Aid attorney, Treg and Beth were able to protect their home, their family farm, and reduce their monthly payments by nearly $4,500. In total, their debt was reduced by $350,000.
“Without Legal Aid, I don't think we would have kept our home, and I don't know what would have become of us...We ultimately made the decision to keep a very small part of our farm and cattle, and Treg has continued with the custom trucking side of the farm. We have continued with the small herd of cattle we kept and hope to rebuild our herd as the future allows."
Article by Melissa Amarawardana
*Stock image used to protect the client's privacy.
