Jeffrey A. Peterson

Jeff Peterson focuses his practice on commercial transactions, creditor’s rights, bankruptcy, and agricultural and food law. He is a frequent speaker on agriculture and finance topics and is a former chair of the American Bar Association Agricultural and Agribusiness Financing Subcommittee. In addition, Jeff is the current President of the American Agriculture Law Association, a co-editor of the Bankruptcy Practice in Minnesota Deskbook which is published by the Minnesota State Bar Association, and a fellow in the American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers (ACCFL), a professional association of distinguished commercial finance attorneys.

Jeff has a background in agriculture and agribusiness, working for Country Hedging, Inc. (the commodity trading subsidiary of CHS)  as a commodity branch manager and market analyst in Kansas City, advising clients on commodity hedging strategies and trading agricultural futures and options for grain and livestock producers and grain cooperatives in South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Colorado.

Representative Experience

• Represents financial institutions in commercial and agricultural loan negotiations and documentation  
• Represents financial institutions in commercial and agricultural loan workouts
• Represents financial institutions, lessors and trade vendors state court receiverships and assignments for the benefit of creditors and in commercial and agricultural bankruptcy reorganizations and liquidations
• Represents financial institutions and trade vendors in litigation, including litigation involving state agricultural liens, the Federal Food Security Act (7 U.S.C. §1631 et al), the Federal Packers and Stockyards Act (7 U.S.C. § 181 et al), preferential transfers (11 U.S.C. §547) and fraudulent conveyance actions
• Represents grain, livestock, poultry and dairy companies, and agricultural cooperatives in ongoing credit, marketing, production, distribution, and regulatory compliance
• Represents food processors, distributors, retailers, and franchisers in ongoing credit, marketing, production, distribution, food safety, and regulatory compliance

• Speaker, "Ag Finance Update," American Agricultural Law Association (AALA) - 42nd Annual Agricultural Law Educational Symposium, Salt Lake City, Utah, November 5, 2021
• Speaker, "Strategies to Finance Hedge Account LOC’s," Independent Community Bankers of Minnesota (ICBM) Ag Conference, October 29, 2021
• Speaker, Update on Agricultural Finance, American Agricultural Law Association Annual Meeting, Kansas City, Missouri, 2020
• Speaker, 2019 FINPACK Lenders Conference, University of Minnesota Farm Management, 2019
• Speaker, Update on Agricultural Finance, American Agricultural Law Association Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., 2019
• Speaker, Law for Lunch - The Ag Crisis and How to Counsel, South Dakota Bar Association, 2019
• Speaker, Update on Agricultural Finance, American Agricultural Law Association Annual Meeting, Louisville, Kentucky, October 1, 2017
• Speaker, Chapter 12 Bankruptcy, Bankruptcy Institute, Minneapolis, Minnesota, October 1, 2016
• Speaker, Update on Agricultural Finance, American Agricultural Law Association Annual Meeting, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, October 1, 2016
• Speaker, Minnesota Farmer/Lender Mediation Task Force Committee, St. Paul, Minnesota, September 1, 2016
• Speaker, Update on Agricultural Finance, American Agricultural Law Association Annual Meeting, Charleston, South Carolina, October 1, 2015
• Speaker, Agricultural Finance – What’s New, the Latest Trends & Issues, Minnesota State Bar Association, St. Cloud, Minnesota, April 1, 2015
• Speaker, Update on Agricultural Finance, American Agricultural Law Association Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, New Mexico, October 1, 2014
• Speaker, 4th Annual Animal Science Conference, September 30, 2014
• Speaker, Agricultural Finance – What’s New, the Latest Trends & Issues, Minnesota State Bar Association, Willmar, Minnesota, April 1, 2014
• Speaker, Update on Agricultural Finance, American Agricultural Law Association Annual Meeting, Madison, Wisconsin, October 1, 2013
• Speaker, Update on Agricultural Finance, American Agricultural Law Association Annual Meeting, Nashville, Tennessee, October 1, 2012
• Speaker, Update on Agricultural Bankruptcy, American Agricultural Law Association Annual Meeting, Austin, Texas, October 1, 2011
• Speaker, Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011, Minnesota State Bar Association, Willmar, Minnesota, April 1, 2011
• Speaker, Agricultural Liens and Revised Article 9, American Agricultural Law Association Annual Meeting, Omaha, Nebraska, October 1, 2010
• Speaker, Credit Issues Conference, Minnesota Association of Cooperatives: Credit Issues Conference, St. Cloud, Minnesota, June 1, 2010
• Speaker, Agricultural Liens and Revised Article 9, Minnesota State Bar Association, April 1, 2010
• Speaker, Update on Agricultural Bankruptcy, American Agricultural Law Association Annual Meeting, Williamsburg, Virginia, September 1, 2009
• Speaker, Credit Issues Conference, Minnesota Association of Cooperatives in Conjunction with Minnesota Grain and Feed Association: Credit Issues Conference, St. Cloud, Minnesota, February 1, 2009
• Panelist, BAPCPA (Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005), Herbert W. Walton Bench/Bar Conference, Overland Park, Kansas, April 1, 2006
• Speaker, Local Government Considerations, Kansas Bar Association, Overland Park, Kansas, November 1, 2005
• Speaker, Non-Dischargeability Issues in Bankruptcy, Herbert W. Walton Bench/Bar Conference, Overland Park, Kansas, September 1, 2005
• Speaker, Business Reorganization Issues in Bankruptcy, Washburn University School of Law, Topeka, Kansas, June 1, 2005
• Speaker, BAPCPA Issues, Herbert W. Walton Bench/Bar Conference, Overland Park, Kansas, April 1, 2005

• American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers, Fellow, 2022-current
• American Bar Association Subcommittee on Agricultural and Agri-business Financing, Chair, 2014-2017

• American Agricultural Law Association; Board of Directors, 2014-2017; President-Elect, 2021-current

• Minnesota State Bar Association

• Kansas Bar Association; Corporation, Banking and Business Law section, President, 2006-2007

• Kansas Bar Association; Continuing Legal Education Committee, Vice Chair, 2006-2007

• Johnson County (Kansas) Bar Association, Bankruptcy Committee, Chair, 2004-2006

• Legal Extern for the Honorable John T. Flannagan, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Kansas, 2000-2001

• Paramount Center for the Arts, Board Member, 2020-current
• Volunteer youth basketball coach, 2019-current
• St. Cloud Downtown Council, President 2015-2019
• St. John's Boy Choir, Vice Chair, 2013-2016
• Westside SERTOMA (Service to Mankind), President, 2011-2012
• William Mitchell College of Law, Business Practicum Course, Adjunct Faculty, 2008-2010

• “Minnesota's Top Lawyers,” Minnesota Monthly, 2022
• “Urban Hero Award-Heart of Downton,” St. Cloud Downtown Council, 2018
• "Minnesota Rising Star," Thomson Reuters, 2014