As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1) (A) "Action" means a court action or legal recourse to the courts of the State of Arkansas by a creditor against a farmer for payment of a debt, to enforce or foreclose a security interest, lien, or mortgage, or to repossess or declare a creditor's interest in agricultural property.
(B) "Action" includes, but is not limited to, garnishment, replevin, foreclosure, execution of judgment, and involuntary receivership;
(2) "Agricultural property" means all of the following:
(A) Real property that is used principally for farming or ranching;
(B) Real property that is a farmer's principal place of residence and any land contiguous to the residence;
(C) Personal property that is used as security to finance farming or ranching; and
(D) Personal property that is used for farming or ranching;
(3) "Creditor" means any person who holds a mortgage on agricultural property, who has a lien on or a security interest in agricultural property, or who is a judgment creditor with a judgment against a farmer affecting the farmer's agricultural property;
(4) "Farmer" means any person who is engaged in farming or ranching, who has at least twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) in outstanding agricultural loans that are secured by real estate, crops, livestock, farm machinery, or other agricultural supplies, and who either:
(A) Owns or leases a total of fifty (50) acres or more of land that is agricultural property; or
(B) Has had gross sales of farm products of at least twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) in any of the preceding three (3) years;
(5) "Farming" or "ranching" means the employment or operation of real property for the production of agricultural products including, but not limited to, the following:
(A) The production or cultivation of agricultural, horticultural, or aquacultural commodities such as field crops, rice, soybeans, cotton, sorghum, corn, wheat, fruit, vegetables, mushrooms, nurserystock, ornamental trees, sod, or flowers;
(B) Animal or poultry husbandry and the production of poultry and poultry products, livestock, equine or fur-bearing animals and wildlife, including the raising, breeding, shearing, grazing, or other feeding of these animals;
(C) Dairy production;
(D) Viticulture, wine-making, and related activities; and
(E) On-site storing, handling, and processing incidental to the production of the foregoing agricultural or horticultural products and commodities;
(6) "Mediation" means the process in which a neutral person or persons intermediate between or among parties for the purpose of facilitating the settlement of their dispute by mutual agreement; and
(7) "Party" or "parties" means, with respect to the mediation of a dispute affecting a farmer's agricultural property, the farmer, a creditor of the farmer, and any other person necessary to the resolution of a dispute or an action.
Section: 2-7-102Last modified: November 15, 2016