Farmland’s bankruptcy filing surely casts new doubts on the cooperative’s future, and the outcome of its long-running efforts to get a new pork processing plant built to replace the one that burned last July.

The company’s recent financial reports show it was living on the edge for a while, as divisions, like its fertilizer operations, lost more money than could be offset by the success of its refrigerated meats and other profitable divisions. At the end, investors saw a $10 million loan payment coming due and decided to get their money back before the company could default on its loan, and this "run on the bank" is what finally plunged Farmland into bankruptcy.

This does not mean Farmland is going to cease to exist; the Chapter 11 filing will allow it to reorganize and come back, it is hoped, in better financial condition.

While the news of the bankruptcy is certainly another trial for workers who are waiting for word on new jobs and for a community that has gone through this before, there are a few rays of light poking through the dark cloud.

For one, it’s comforting to know that the company’s meats division, of which the Albert Lea operation was a part, is clearly one of the most profitable the company has. That could mean Farmland will attempt to make that division an important part of its financial rebuilding; if that’s the case, it would make sense that the company’s commitment to rebuilding in Albert Lea may be strengthened. The company still claims that an insurance dispute is the last obstacle to a new plant.

Another piece of good news is that even if the company’s plans to rebuild fail, the city of Albert Lea won’t be left on the hook for the cleanup cost on the old site. The city has already seized $2.2 million from the company’s insurance proceeds, and has the right to take more. That money can pay for cleanup if the company cannot do it or does not. That means an important and visible piece of land will, one way or another, finally be cleared of the half-destroyed plant that has stood for nearly a year.