Opinion ID: 1266472
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Debtor's Farming Operation

Text: There is no dispute that the Knudsens qualify as debtors under 11 U.S.C. §§ 101(13) and 109. The term `debtor' means person or municipality concerning which a case under this title has been commenced. 11 U.S.C. § 101(13). Under § 109, [o]nly a family farmer or family fisherman with regular annual income may be a debtor under chapter 12 of this title. The Knudsens are family farmers. To understand the meaning of farming operation, we look to 11 U.S.C. § 101(21). The term `farming operation' 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. 11 U.S.C. § 101(21). [T]he above list is not all-inclusive, as it employs the term includes. Watford v. Fed. Land Bank of Columbia (In re Watford), 898 F.2d 1525, 1527 (11th Cir.1990). This definition is to be construed liberally in order to further Congress'[s] purpose of helping family farmers to continue farming. Id. Here, the Knudsens engaged in a farming operation, as they have operated a hog farm since the early 1990s. First, this farming operation consisted of farrow-to-finish hog production in which the Knudsens were selling their own hogs as their main source of income. Then, in 2004, the Knudsens farm operation changed from a farrow-to-finish hog operation to raising pigs under a contract with SPI. [3] In summary, because we find that Knudsens' sale of their slaughter hogs qualifies for treatment under the plain language of § 1222(a)(2)(A), we reverse the bankruptcy court's judgment that the slaughter hogs were not a farm asset used in the debtor's farming operation under § 1222(a)(2)(A).