Life After Bankruptcy on the Farm with Cassandra Row

Cassandra Row, joining Arlene and Caite from Nebraska, describes “growing” three children (ages nine, six, and four), an accidental homestead (garden; chickens, guineas, turkeys, ducks; a milk cow and calf; summer pigs and butchering), and two businesses: her husband’s ag-service trenching/welding/fencing work and her rural-focused marketing business. With a lifelong ag background (K-State animal science; master’s in ruminant nutrition), she explains how multigenerational financial issues, poor transition planning, drought, storms, irrigation expenses, and losing land leases led her family to file Chapter 12 bankruptcy in 2024 after beginning liquidation in 2023, a process not finalized until 2025.

She discusses identity shifts, explaining liquidation to kids, the importance of supportive friends and family, using coaching/counseling, getting blunt financial and tax advice, and continuing involvement in agriculture by helping her parents farm while maintaining the homestead.

We're glad you're joining us for another episode of Barnyard Language. If you enjoy the show, please tell a friend (or two) and be sure to rate and review us wherever you're listening! If you want to help us keep buying coffee and paying our editor, you can make a monthly pledge on Patreon to help us stay on the air.

You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok as BarnyardLanguage, and if you'd like to connect with other farming families, you can join our private Barnyard Language Facebook group. We're always in search of future guests for the podcast. If you or someone you know would like to chat with us, get in touch.

If you have a something you'd like to Cuss & Discuss, you can submit it here: speakpipe.com/barnyardlanguage or email us at barnyardlanguage@gmail.com.