Sixteen years of chapter 12 bankruptcy: evolution of filing and disposition rates Available to Purchase

Chapter 12 bankruptcy filing rates from 1986 to 2001 are compared with farm bankruptcy rates from 1898 1979. Data are also presented on Chapter 12 discharge rates. Although Chapter 12 filings are reorganizations and exclude liquidations, Chapter 12 filings per farm in the 1990s exceeded filing rates in earlier decades with comparable economic conditions. Higher proportions of Chapter 12 cases filed in the 1990s failed to receive discharges than Chapter 12 cases filed in the late 1980s. This finding may indicate more debt restructurings are taking place outside of Chapter 12 and that a higher proportion of filings are “hard cases.”