A creditor with a perfected security interest in farm equipment ordinarily does not need anyone’s permission to repossess it. A mortgagee with a power of sale ordinarily does not need permission to foreclose. That is the point of the collateral.
In Minnesota, on agricultural property, that is not how it works.
The Farmer-Lender Mediation Act, Minn. Stat. §§ 583.20 to 583.32, imposes a condition precedent on the exercise of remedies the creditor already holds. Serve a notice, wait, mediate, and only then proceed. It applies to federal agencies, to banks and implement dealers, and to individuals. And the debtor cannot waive it.
The prohibition is not where you would look for it
Here is the structural point that trips up lawyers who read chapter 583 cover to cover and cannot find the prohibition. It is not in chapter 583. Section 583.26, subd. 1(a) tells a creditor it “must serve an applicable mediation notice under sections 336.9-601, 550.365, 559.209, and 582.039.” The bars themselves live in those four sections, in four different chapters:
| Remedy | Operative bar | Text |
|---|---|---|
| Mortgage foreclosure (ch. 580 or 581) | Minn. Stat. § 582.039, subd. 1 | “A person may not begin a proceeding under this chapter or chapter 580 to foreclose a mortgage on agricultural property subject to sections 583.20 to 583.32 that has a secured debt of more than the amount provided in section 583.24, subdivision 5, unless . . .” |
| Attachment, execution, levy, seizure | Minn. Stat. § 550.365, subd. 1 | “A person may not attach, execute on, levy on, or seize agricultural property subject to sections 583.20 to 583.32 that has secured a debt of more than the amount provided in section 583.24, subdivision 5, unless . . .” |
| Contract for deed cancellation (§ 559.21) | Minn. Stat. § 559.209, subd. 1 | “A person may not begin to terminate a contract for deed under section 559.21 to purchase agricultural property subject to sections 583.20 to 583.32 for a remaining balance on the contract of more than the amount provided in section 583.24, subdivision 5, unless . . .” |
| Enforcement of an Article 9 security interest | Minn. Stat. § 336.9-601(h) | “A person may not begin to enforce a security interest in collateral that is agricultural property subject to sections 583.20 to 583.32 that has secured a debt of more than the amount provided in section 583.24, subdivision 5, unless . . .” |
Each of the four then supplies the exact text of the notice, in capital letters, with blanks to fill in. Each of the four is subject to the same escape valve: the requirement is satisfied where the parties “have completed mediation under sections 583.20 to 583.32,” or “as otherwise allowed under sections 583.20 to 583.32.”
Practical consequence: a Minnesota creditor’s remedies checklist for agricultural collateral has to start outside the chapter that governs the remedy. The UCC lawyer looking only at Article 9 part 6 will find § 336.9-601(h) — the mortgage lawyer working from chapter 580 will find nothing, because the bar is in § 582.039.
Who is covered, and by how much
Creditors. Section 583.24, subd. 1(a) reaches “(1) the United States or an agency of the United States; (2) corporations, partnerships, and other business entities; and (3) individuals.” There is no institutional-lender limitation. A seller-financed contract for deed vendor and a judgment creditor are both “creditors” under § 583.22, subd. 4, which defines the term as “the holder of a mortgage on agricultural property, a vendor of a contract for deed of agricultural property, a person with a lien or security interest in agricultural property, or a judgment creditor with a judgment against a debtor with agricultural property.”
Debtors. Section 583.24, subd. 2(a) covers a debtor who is “(1) a person operating a family farm as defined in section 500.24, subdivision 2; (2) a family farm corporation as defined in section 500.24, subdivision 2; or (3) an authorized farm corporation as defined in section 500.24, subdivision 2.”
The small-operation exclusion. Subdivision 2(b): the Act “does not apply to a debtor who owns and leases less than 60 acres if the debtor has less than $20,000 in gross sales of agricultural products the preceding year.” Both conditions, not either.
The dollar threshold. Section 583.24, subd. 5 is short and it is the number every one of the four enforcement bars points to:
“The minimum eligible debt amount is $15,000. In 2022 and every five years thereafter, the commissioner of agriculture, in consultation with the director, must report to the legislative committees with jurisdiction over agriculture policy what the minimum eligible debt amount under this subdivision would be if adjusted using the United States Department of Agriculture’s Index of the Cost of Production.”
Note what that second sentence does and does not do. It requires a report on what an inflation-adjusted figure would be. It does not index the number. The threshold is $15,000 until the legislature changes it.
Debts excluded. Section 583.24, subd. 4 carves out six categories, and three of them come up constantly:
- Bankruptcy. A debt for which a proof of claim was filed, or that was scheduled, by a debtor who filed a chapter 7, 11, 12, or 13 petition after July 1, 1987.
- Already mediated. A debt in default when the creditor received a mediation proceeding notice, where the creditor filed a claim form and the debt was mediated during the mediation period — whether the mediation was unresolved or produced a signed agreement. Mediation is once per defaulted debt, which is exactly what the statutory notice tells the farmer in capital letters.
- The waiver-by-inaction window. A debt “for which the creditor has served a mediation notice, the debtor has failed to make a timely request for mediation, and within 60 days after the debtor failed to make a timely request the creditor began a proceeding to enforce the debt against the agricultural property of the debtor.”
That last one is a trap for creditors, not debtors. Serve the notice, get no request, and then sit for three months, and the exclusion does not apply on its terms.
Two more exclusions round it out: a debt subject to a farm machinery rental-value lien under § 514.661, and a new line of credit or loan extended as a result of a mediation — though that new debt “becomes subject to the Farmer-Lender Mediation Act two years after the mediation from which the new debt originated ends.”
“Agricultural property,” and the poultry wrinkle
Section 583.22, subd. 2 defines “agricultural property” as real property “principally used for farming as defined in section 500.24, subdivision 2, paragraph (a), and raising poultry,” plus personal property “used as security to finance a farm operation or used as part of a farm operation including equipment, crops, livestock, proceeds of the security, and removable agricultural structures under lease with option to purchase.”
The poultry clause is not decorative. Section 500.24, subd. 2(a) defines “farming” as the production of agricultural products, livestock or livestock products, milk or milk products, or fruit or other horticultural products — and expressly says it “does not include . . . the production of poultry or poultry products.” The Farmer-Lender Mediation Act adds poultry back in. Borrowing the corporate-farm definition without reading its exclusions would produce the wrong answer for a poultry operation.
Three categories are carved out of “agricultural property”: personal property subject to a possessory lien under §§ 514.18 to 514.22; property leased to the debtor other than removable agricultural structures under lease with option to purchase; and “farm machinery that is primarily used for custom field work.”
What “enforce” captures
Section 583.26, subd. 1(b) supplies its own definition, and it is broad:
“For purposes of the Farmer-Lender Mediation Act, starting a proceeding to enforce a debt means initiating a proceeding under chapter 550, 580, or 581; sections 336.9-601 to 336.9-628; or section 559.21.”
Subdivision 1(a) describes the same universe functionally — foreclosure, contract for deed termination, or “to garnish, levy on, execute on, seize, or attach agricultural property.”
A small drafting artifact worth flagging. Section 583.26, subd. 1(a) and 1(b) refer to “sections 336.9-601 to 336.9-628” — the current Article 9 default-and-enforcement provisions. Section 583.26, subd. 5(a) and (b), describing the effect of the stay, still refer to “sections 336.9-501 to 336.9-508,” which is the pre-revision numbering. Read together with § 336.9-601(h), the intent is not seriously in doubt, but a creditor relying on the older cross-reference to argue a gap in the stay would be arguing against the statute’s plain structure.
The clock
Once a notice goes out, the Act runs on a series of short, hard-edged deadlines. All of them are in § 583.26 unless noted.
| Event | Deadline | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Debtor files mediation request with the director | 14 days after receiving the mediation notice | subd. 2(a) |
| Director provides a financial analyst to meet with the debtor | 3 business days after receiving the mediation request | subd. 3(a) |
| Director sends mediation proceeding notices and claim forms | 10 days after receiving the mediation request | subd. 4(a) |
| Debtor or initiating creditor may strike one proposed mediator | 3 days after receiving the mediation proceeding notice | subd. 4(b)(6), (d) |
| Orientation session (debtor, financial analyst, mediator) | at least 5 days before the first mediation meeting | subd. 3a |
| Initial mediation meeting | within 20 days of the notice | subd. 4(c) |
| Creditor’s remedies stayed | until 90 days after the debtor files the mediation request | subd. 5(a), (b) |
| Mediation period | up to 60 days after the initial mediation meeting | subd. 8 |
| Rescission of an agreement letting the creditor proceed early | 5 business days after both sign | subd. 9(c) |
| Creditor objection to a mediation agreement (creditor who filed a claim form) | 10 days after receiving notice of the agreement | § 583.28, subd. 2 |
Two consequences of missing the 14-day window are worth stating plainly to any farmer who receives one of these notices. Under § 583.26, subd. 2(b), a debtor “who fails to file a timely mediation request waives the right to mediation for that debt,” and the director will notify the creditor that it may proceed. And under § 583.24, subd. 4(3), that debt drops out of the Act entirely if the creditor moves within 60 days.
The counterweight: under § 583.26, subd. 2(c), a debtor who has not received a mediation notice but is facing enforcement may file a mediation request anyway, indicating on the form that no notice was received.
There is also a debtor- or creditor-initiated voluntary track. Section 583.25 allows either to “request mediation of the indebtedness by a farm mediator by applying to the director,” who “must evaluate each request and may direct a mediator to meet with the debtor and creditor.”
Good faith is defined by statute, and the sanctions run both ways
Section 583.27 is where the Act acquires teeth, and it is more specific than most good-faith provisions in Minnesota law. Subdivision 1(a) requires the director to notify all parties in writing, before the initial meeting, of the obligation and its consequences, and enumerates what not participating in good faith includes:
- failure “on a regular or continuing basis to attend and participate in mediation sessions without cause”;
- failure to provide full information no later than the initial meeting regarding the parties’ financial obligations and other creditors;
- failure of the creditor “to designate a representative to participate in the mediation with authority to make binding commitments within one business day to fully settle, compromise, or otherwise mediate the matter”;
- lack of a written statement of debt restructuring alternatives and reasons why alternatives are unacceptable;
- failure of a creditor to release funds from the sale of farm products for necessary living and farm operating expenses; and
- “other similar behavior which evidences lack of good faith.”
And a limit that keeps the provision honest: “A failure to agree to reduce, restructure, refinance, or forgive debt does not, in itself, evidence lack of good faith by the creditor.”
Clause (3) is the one that changes how a lender staffs the meeting. Sending someone without settlement authority is not a tactic under this statute; it is an enumerated ground for a bad-faith affidavit.
Living expenses. Section 583.27, subd. 1(b) caps what a creditor must release for necessary living expenses at “$3,600 per month less the debtor’s off-farm income,” with the same report-every-five-years mechanism as the debt threshold — and, again, no automatic indexing. If the parties cannot agree on that amount, subd. 1(c) sends the dispute to conciliation court in the county of the debtor’s residence, which “must make the determination within ten days after receiving the petition.” Disputes over operating expenses, or over living and operating expenses together, go to district court under subd. 1(d), which decides within ten days and may add or subtract up to ten days on the creditor’s enforcement clock and assess costs including attorney fees.
The affidavit. Under subd. 2, if the mediator determines that either party is not participating in good faith, “the mediator shall file an affidavit indicating the reasons for the finding” with the director and the parties. Then the paths diverge sharply:
- Creditor bad faith (subd. 3). The debtor may file the affidavit with the district court and require court-supervised mediation for up to 60 days, during which “[a]ll creditor remedies must be suspended.” If the court then finds the creditor still has not participated in good faith, “the court shall by order suspend the creditor’s remedies for an additional period of 180 days.” And: “A creditor found by the mediator not to have participated in good faith shall pay attorneys’ fees and costs of the debtor requesting court-supervision of mediation or additional suspension of creditor’s remedies.”
- Debtor bad faith (subd. 4). Defined narrowly — fraudulent concealment, removal, or transfer of secured agricultural property in violation of a security agreement without remitting proceeds, occurring during the mediation period. On receipt of the mediator’s affidavit, “[a] creditor may immediately proceed with creditor’s remedies . . . notwithstanding any other requirements.”
Either side may petition for review under subd. 6, but the standard is deferential: “The review is limited to whether the mediator committed an abuse of discretion in filing or failing to file an affidavit of lack of good faith,” decided within ten days.
Two more provisions belong in any practical summary. Inspection: under subd. 5, a participating secured creditor may inspect the collateral during normal business hours — defined as 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday, excluding holidays — on 24 hours’ notice, and refusal, destruction, or waste “is evidence of the debtor’s lack of good faith.” Valuation: under subd. 8, a dispute over the market value of real property is resolved by an accredited appraiser chosen by strike-one-each from a list of three supplied by the mediator, within 45 days, with the cost split equally.
The creditor who does not show up is bound anyway
Section 583.28, subd. 1 is the provision most likely to surprise a lender that treats the process as optional:
“A creditor that is notified of the initial mediation meeting is subject to and bound by a mediation agreement if the creditor does not attend mediation meetings unless the creditor files a claim form.”
Filing a claim form is the alternative to attending, and it is not a free pass either: “By filing a claim form the creditor agrees to be bound by a mediation agreement reached at the mediation meeting unless an objection is filed within the time specified” — ten days, under subd. 2. An objection restarts mediation for a further ten-day round.
On the other side, § 583.26, subd. 9(b) gives an agreement real force. Parties to an approved mediation agreement, and creditors who filed claim forms and did not object, “(1) are bound by the terms of the agreement; (2) may enforce the mediation agreement as a legal contract; and (3) may use the mediation agreement as a defense against an action contrary to the mediation agreement.” Section 583.31: “The mediation agreement must be enforced by the district court.”
And a point that protects lenders: under § 583.284, a creditor holding a purchase money security interest who renegotiates in mediation to reduce principal or interest or extend the term “retains the purchase money security interest for the renegotiated debt.”
You cannot contract out of it
Section 583.305 is one sentence:
“A waiver of mediation rights under the Farmer-Lender Mediation Act is void except as expressly allowed under the Farmer-Lender Mediation Act.”
That is a categorical rule against pre-dispute waiver in loan papers. The Act does allow one narrow, post-notice election: under § 583.26, subd. 5(c)(2) and subd. 9(c), a debtor may agree to let a creditor proceed early — but either party may rescind within five business days after both sign, and enforcement cannot begin until five days after signing.
For the broader pattern this fits into, see Minnesota Will Let You Contract Away Almost Anything — Except the Things That Let a Court Find Out What Happened.
The expiration date nobody watches
This is the part to verify before relying on anything above, and it is easy to miss because it sits in a five-line section near the front of the chapter.
Minn. Stat. § 583.215, in full:
“Sections 336.9-601, subsections (h) and (i); 550.365; 559.209; 582.039; and 583.20 to 583.32, expire June 30, 2027.”
The entire scheme — the four enforcement bars and the whole of the Act — is on a sunset. Nearly every section in chapter 583 carries the Revisor’s note “See section 583.215 for expiration of this section.”
The section’s own history tells the rest of the story: it has been amended in 2005, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2016 (twice), 2017, and 2021. This is a statute the legislature re-extends rather than makes permanent. Anyone relying on the Act — on either side — should check § 583.215 before a filing, not after. The date in this article is the date the statute carried when it was written; it is the kind of provision that moves.
What to do
If you are a creditor:
- Check § 583.24 before you check your remedy. Debtor status, the 60-acre/$20,000 exclusion, the $15,000 minimum eligible debt, and the subd. 4 debt exclusions decide whether the Act applies at all.
- Serve the right notice. Each of the four enforcement statutes prescribes its own text. Serve on the debtor and the director, and file proof of the service date with the director (§ 583.26, subd. 1(a)).
- Move within the window if the debtor does not request mediation. Section 583.24, subd. 4(3) is written around a 60-day period.
- Send someone with authority. Section 583.27, subd. 1(a)(3) makes the absence of binding settlement authority within one business day an enumerated bad-faith ground, and subd. 3 puts a 180-day suspension and a fee award behind it.
- Bring the documents to the first meeting. Section 583.26, subd. 5(d) requires notes and contracts, interest rates, delinquencies, unpaid principal, a list of all collateral, the creditor’s estimate of value, and available restructuring programs — by the initial meeting.
- Do not treat a claim form as a way out. Section 583.28 binds a non-attending creditor to the agreement unless it files a claim form, and binds a claim-filing creditor unless it objects within ten days.
If you are a farmer or represent one:
- Calendar 14 days from receipt, immediately. Missing it waives mediation for that debt (§ 583.26, subd. 2(b)) and opens the creditor’s 60-day window (§ 583.24, subd. 4(3)).
- List every creditor on the request form. Omitting a significant unsecured creditor “could result in a bad-faith determination,” in the statute’s own words (§ 583.26, subd. 2(a)).
- Use the financial analyst and the farm advocate. Both are provided at no charge under § 583.26, subd. 3, and the orientation session under subd. 3a exists specifically to fix inadequate records before the first meeting.
- If no notice ever came, file anyway. Section 583.26, subd. 2(c).
- Ask for the living-expense release, and go to conciliation court if you have to. Section 583.27, subd. 1(b)–(c).
- If the lender stonewalls, ask the mediator for an affidavit. Section 583.27, subds. 2–3 are the leverage in this statute.
The observation
Most creditor-remedy statutes regulate how a secured party forecloses — notice periods, publication, redemption, commercial reasonableness. Chapter 583 does something structurally different. It regulates whether the creditor may start at all, and it makes the answer depend on a process the creditor does not control, cannot waive in the loan documents, and can be sanctioned for handling badly.
That design shows up in the details. The bad-faith definition reaches how the lender staffs the meeting, not just whether it appears. The remedy for lender bad faith is more delay — 60 days of court-supervised mediation, then 180 days of suspended remedies — plus the farmer’s fees. The creditor who ignores the process is bound by whatever agreement the others reach. And the whole thing was written in 1986 in response to a farm credit crisis, with legislative findings still on the books describing an “agricultural economic emergency” requiring “an orderly process with state assistance to adjust agricultural indebtedness.”
Nearly forty years on, the emergency language reads as a period piece and the machinery does not. It is still the first thing to check before anyone begins a proceeding against Minnesota farm collateral — and, per § 583.215, still a statute with an expiration date on it.
Madgett Law, LLC advises Minnesota farmers and agricultural lenders on the Farmer-Lender Mediation Act, mortgage foreclosure and contract for deed cancellation, Article 9 enforcement, and debt restructuring. If a mediation notice has arrived, the 14-day clock in § 583.26, subd. 2(a) is already running. Send us a message or call 612-470-6529.
Related reading: Minnesota’s Conciliation Court Handles Claims Up to $20,000. Most People Use It Wrong, and Some Should Not Use It at All. — the forum § 583.27, subd. 1(c) sends necessary-living-expense disputes to.
Sources: Minn. Stat. § 583.20 (citation); § 583.21 (legislative findings); § 583.215 (expiration — “Sections 336.9-601, subsections (h) and (i); 550.365; 559.209; 582.039; and 583.20 to 583.32, expire June 30, 2027”); § 583.22, subds. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 6a, 7, 7a, 8 (definitions, including “agricultural property,” “creditor,” “file,” “financial analyst,” “necessary farm operating expenses,” and “serve”); § 583.24, subds. 1, 2, 4, 5 (applicability — creditors, debtors, the 60-acre/$20,000 exclusion, excluded debts, and the $15,000 minimum eligible debt amount); § 583.25 (voluntary mediation proceedings); § 583.26, subds. 1–10 (mandatory mediation proceedings — mediation notice, 14-day request, financial analyst and farm advocate, orientation session, mediation proceeding notice and its required contents, effect of the notice and the 90-day stay, mediator eligibility and duties, mediator immunity and privilege, the 60-day mediation period, mediation agreements, and termination statements); § 583.27, subds. 1–8 (good faith required and court-supervised mediation — the enumerated bad-faith grounds, the $3,600 monthly living-expense limit, conciliation and district court determinations, mediator’s affidavit, 60-day court-supervised mediation and 180-day suspension with fees, debtor’s lack of good faith, collateral inspection, abuse-of-discretion review, and appraisal); § 583.28, subds. 1–2 (creditor not attending; claim forms; ten-day objections); § 583.284 (retention of purchase money security interest); § 583.305 (prohibited waivers); § 583.31 (enforcement). Also Minn. Stat. § 336.9-601(h)–(i); § 550.365, subds. 1–2; § 559.209, subds. 1–2; § 582.039, subds. 1–2 (the four mediation-notice requirements and the statutory text of each notice); § 580.02 (requisites for foreclosure); and § 500.24, subd. 2(a)–(b) (definitions of “farming” and “family farm”). All retrieved from the Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, 2025 Minnesota Statutes edition, at revisor.mn.gov. Currency note: chapter 583 carries no 2026 Regular Session banner. The most recent amendments shown are 2023 (§ 583.25 and § 583.26, by 2023 c 52 art 19) and 2017 (§ 583.22, § 583.24, § 583.27, by 2017 c 88 art 2); §§ 550.365, 559.209, and 582.039 were each last amended in 2023 (2023 c 52 art 19); § 583.215 was last amended in 2021 (2021 c 28 s 24). Because § 583.215 sets an expiration date that the legislature has repeatedly extended, verify the current text of § 583.215 before relying on this article. This article is general legal information about Minnesota law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney–client relationship. Whether the Act applies to a particular debt, debtor, or parcel turns on facts this article does not know. No outcome is promised or implied.