Bio Town Ag, Inc.

Your Success is Our Success

Client:

Bio Town Ag, Inc

Agriculture drives a large portion of the economy in Indiana and the Furrer family has been on the cutting edge of Indiana agriculture since the 1980’s.

The Furrer family and Bennett Boehning & Clary LLP have had a close relationship for many years but the relationship has grown since 2007 when the Furrer family founded Bio Town Ag, Inc. (“BTA”).  The principals of BTA are Brian Furrer, Mark Furrer and Luke Furrer.

BTA is a circularly integrated production agriculture operation comprised of a cattle feedlot operation, a farrow to finish swine operation, a row crop operation, and an anaerobic digester currently in development that will extract methane gas from manure and other substrates to produce electricity to sell on the electric grid.

Not only does BTA operate a large cattle feedlot, BTA is also on the cutting edge of creating renewable energy from an agriculture operation.  Brian Furrer first conceived of the idea to run a digester at BTA nearly five years ago.  The Renewable Energy Center and Digester was commissioned in 2011.  Manure from the cattle feed lot and swine barns is e put into the digester along with other organic matter such as left over produce from local groceries or waste from food production factories.  In the digester, methane is captured and serves as gas to fuel generators.  The generators produce electricity that is put on the electric grid and sold to a utility company.  The water and left over organic matter in the digester is be separated and the water is cleaned and recycled into drinking water for the animals or used to irrigate fields and the solid organic material is spread as fertilizer on fields or used as bedding in the cattle feedlot.

BTA has involved BB&C intimately in the development and operation of BTA.  BB&C has served as outside general counsel to BTA and among other tasks, BTA has hired BB&C to:

  • Advise the principals on the proper type of entity for BTA and to complete the IRC § 351 and IRC §368A organization of BTA and related companies
  • Represent BTA through various real estate purchases and sales
  • Draft and review confidentiality agreements
  • Represent BTA in a IRC § 355 reorganization transaction
  • Represent BTA in the negotiation of a joint venture agreement with a strategic partner
  • Advise BTA on the structure and mechanics of raising additional private equity capital through the sale of shares of BTA and the issuance of subordinated debt
  • Advise BTA on day-to-day contract issues including:
    • Custom farm agreements
    • Farm lease agreements
    • Negotiation of the termination of a land lease
    • Employee matters
    • Create and implement a succession plan, including:
      • Estate planning for the principals of BTA
      • Cross-purchase buy-sell agreements between the principals funded with life insurance with the next generation
      • Buy-sell agreements for minority shareholders
      • Buy-sell agreements for investor shareholders with put and call options and mechanisms to protect the parties
    • Represent BTA before various administrative agencies including the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.

For more information on the services we provide in these areas, please visit Business Law and General Corporate Counseling, Succession Planning, and Renewable Energy, Cleantech & Regulatory Matters.