UCC farm products collateral description keeps getting rejected - need help with proper terminology
Been dealing with a nightmare situation trying to get our UCC-1 accepted for a seasonal crop loan. Filed three times now and keep getting rejected by the SOS office. The issue seems to be how we're describing the farm products collateral. We've tried "all crops and livestock" then "seasonal crops, hay, cattle" and even got super specific with "corn, soybeans, wheat crops planted 2025, plus 40 head Black Angus cattle." Each time comes back rejected for "insufficient collateral description." This is holding up our $180K operating loan and planting season is coming fast. Has anyone dealt with UCC farm products filings that actually stick? What magic words do these filing offices want to see?
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Khalid Howes
Farm products can be tricky because they're constantly changing - crops get harvested, livestock gets sold. The key is being specific about what you're securing but also broad enough to cover the ongoing operations. Try something like "All farm products now owned or hereafter acquired, including but not limited to: growing crops, harvested crops, livestock, and proceeds thereof." The "hereafter acquired" language is crucial for agricultural operations.
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Ben Cooper
•This is exactly right. Farm products need that future acquisition language because you're dealing with inventory that turns over constantly. Also make sure you include "proceeds" because once you sell the crops or cattle, you want the lien to follow the money.
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Naila Gordon
•Good point about proceeds. We learned this the hard way when our borrower sold a bunch of cattle and tried to claim the lien didn't cover the sale proceeds. Always include proceeds language in farm products filings.
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Cynthia Love
Had this exact problem last year. The issue isn't usually the description itself - it's that farm products have special rules under Article 9. You might need to check if your state requires additional notices to buyers or if there are specific formatting requirements for agricultural liens. Some states are really picky about this stuff.
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Rita Jacobs
•Wait, there are special rules? The lender just told us to file a regular UCC-1. Are you saying farm products need different paperwork?
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Cynthia Love
•Not necessarily different paperwork, but there are buyer notification requirements in some states. You should definitely check your state's specific rules for farm products financing. The UCC-1 form is still correct, but the description needs to meet agricultural lending standards.
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Khalid Howes
•Yeah, Article 9 has specific provisions for farm products. The description needs to be more detailed than typical inventory because these assets are constantly being consumed, sold, or replaced in the normal course of farming operations.
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Darren Brooks
I've been doing agricultural lending for 15 years and I can tell you the rejection is probably about the description being either too vague or too specific. Farm products descriptions need to hit that sweet spot. Try "All farm products including crops (whether growing or harvested), livestock, and all products thereof, now owned or hereafter acquired by debtor." This covers current assets plus future production.
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Rita Jacobs
•That sounds more comprehensive than what we tried. Should we also mention the specific farm location or does that make it too restrictive?
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Darren Brooks
•Including the farm location is actually a good idea for farm products. It helps define the scope and shows you're not trying to claim products from other properties. Add something like "located at [farm address] and any other real property owned, leased or operated by debtor.
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Rosie Harper
This might sound weird but I recently started using Certana.ai to double-check my UCC filings before submitting. You can upload your UCC-1 and it immediately flags potential issues with collateral descriptions. For farm products, it actually caught that I was missing the "proceeds" language that would have caused problems later. Might be worth checking your description through their system before filing again.
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Rita Jacobs
•Interesting - never heard of that service. Does it actually understand the agricultural lending rules or is it just generic UCC checking?
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Rosie Harper
•It's pretty sophisticated. You just upload your filing documents and it cross-references everything against UCC requirements. For farm products specifically, it flagged issues with asset turnover language and proceeds coverage that I wouldn't have caught manually. Worth trying before your fourth filing attempt.
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Ben Cooper
•That's actually really smart. Manual document review for complex collateral like farm products is where most errors happen. Having an automated check could save a lot of rejection headaches.
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Elliott luviBorBatman
ugh been there with the SOS office rejections. they're so inconsistent about what they want. filed the same description in two different states - one accepted, one rejected. makes no sense
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Demi Hall
•Tell me about it. Spent weeks getting UCC filings right only to have them bounced for ridiculous reasons. The system is broken.
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Khalid Howes
•Each state does have slightly different interpretation of what constitutes adequate collateral description. It's frustrating but that's why being extra thorough with farm products descriptions usually works better than trying to be minimal.
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Mateusius Townsend
In my experience with farm products, you also need to consider whether you're dealing with crops that haven't been planted yet. If your loan is for planting season, make sure your description covers "crops to be planted" not just "growing crops." The timing of when you file relative to the farming cycle matters for the description language.
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Rita Jacobs
•That's a really good point. We're filing now for spring planting, so most of the crops don't exist yet. Should the description specifically mention "crops to be planted 2025"?
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Mateusius Townsend
•Exactly. Something like "all crops to be planted, growing, or harvested during the 2025 crop year and thereafter" would cover your current situation plus future seasons. Don't lock yourself into just one year if this is an ongoing credit facility.
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Darren Brooks
•Good catch on the timing issue. Agricultural cycles make UCC filings more complex than typical business assets. The description has to anticipate the full production cycle.
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Kara Yoshida
One thing that's helped me with farm products rejections is being really explicit about the types of proceeds you're claiming. Not just "proceeds" but "cash proceeds, non-cash proceeds, insurance proceeds, and accounts arising from the sale of farm products." Some filing offices want to see that level of detail for agricultural liens.
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Ben Cooper
•Insurance proceeds is a great addition. Crop insurance payouts are a major source of recovery for agricultural lenders, so you definitely want your UCC to cover those.
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Naila Gordon
•Never thought about non-cash proceeds specifically. What would that include for farm products?
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Kara Yoshida
•Non-cash proceeds could be things like equipment received in trade for crops, or other goods received instead of cash payment. It's broader coverage that some lenders overlook.
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Philip Cowan
Just went through this exact scenario three months ago. What finally worked was adding equipment language to the filing. Our description became "All farm products including crops, livestock, and farm equipment used in connection therewith, plus all proceeds and products thereof." The equipment connection seemed to satisfy whatever the SOS office was looking for.
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Rita Jacobs
•Interesting approach. Our loan doesn't actually include equipment though - it's just for operating expenses and crop inputs. Would it be misleading to include equipment in the description?
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Philip Cowan
•If you're not actually taking a lien on equipment, don't include it. That could create problems later. My situation was different - we actually were securing some farm equipment along with the crops and livestock.
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Caesar Grant
Make sure you're not running into a debtor name issue disguised as a collateral description problem. I've seen SOS offices give generic rejection reasons when the real issue is the debtor name not matching their business records exactly. Double-check that your debtor name on the UCC-1 matches exactly what's on file with the Secretary of State for the farming operation.
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Rita Jacobs
•Hmm, we're filing against "Johnson Family Farms LLC" which is how it appears on all the business documents. Could there be a variation in their state business registration?
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Caesar Grant
•Definitely worth checking. Sometimes the LLC registration might be "Johnson Family Farms, LLC" with a comma, or "Johnson Family Farm" without the 's'. Even small differences can cause rejections that get blamed on collateral descriptions.
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Lena Schultz
•This is where I'd use Certana.ai again - you can upload the UCC-1 and it checks debtor name consistency against business registrations. Saves you from guessing what variation might be causing the rejection.
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Gemma Andrews
Farm products filings are definitely more art than science. I've had success with really comprehensive descriptions like "All farm products of every kind and description, whether now existing or hereafter acquired, including without limitation: (a) crops, whether planted, growing, or harvested; (b) livestock of every kind; (c) supplies used or produced in farming operations; (d) products of crops or livestock; and (e) all proceeds, whether cash or non-cash, from the sale, lease, license, exchange or other disposition of any of the foregoing." It's verbose but it works.
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Khalid Howes
•That's a very thorough description. Sometimes being overly comprehensive is better than risking another rejection, especially when you're under time pressure for planting season.
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Rita Jacobs
•This is really helpful. Going to try a comprehensive description like this for our next filing attempt. Really appreciate everyone's input - this has been way more complex than our lender made it sound.
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Pedro Sawyer
•Yeah agricultural lending has all these nuances that don't apply to regular commercial loans. Good luck with the refiling!
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