DCA Outdoor: Tree Nursery Giant Files as Creditors Unite Against Management

DCA Outdoor's chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in February 2025 involves the nation's largest producer of balled-and-burlapped trees, a segment that supplies landscaping inventory across more than 20 states. The 21-debtor filing encompasses 12 interconnected brands spanning nursery production, wholesale distribution, and retail garden center operations—a vertically integrated platform assembled through years of acquisition activity backed by private equity firm Midwest Growth Partners.

Frontier Farm Credit and the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors jointly moved for appointment of a chapter 11 trustee, alleging gross mismanagement, self-dealing, and misappropriation of assets by founder and CEO Tory Schwope. The Joint Trustee Motion detailed allegations including $473,000 in company funds used for improvements to Schwope's personal residence, undisclosed insider payments, and cannabis-related activities that movants said raised regulatory concerns. The court denied the trustee motion, leaving existing management to pursue a multi-tranche asset sale with auctions scheduled through mid-2026.

Company Background and Business Model

Founding and growth. Tory Schwope began planting his nursery in 1997 while attending Kansas State University, majoring in Business and Horticulture. He purchased two farms in Atherton, Missouri in 2005, establishing the foundation for a large nursery operation. The operation expanded over the following decade, growing to encompass over 500 acres of production across 10 different farms throughout the Midwest.

In 2016, Schwope formed DCA Outdoor, Inc. as a holding company to consolidate and scale his nursery operations beyond organic growth. That same year, he acquired Colonial Gardens, a Blue Springs, Missouri garden center originally founded in 1969, adding retail capabilities to the wholesale production base. Colonial Gardens later ranked as the #64 independent garden center nationally and the top-ranked independent garden center in Missouri. The acquisition added a retail operation to the production business.

Private equity investment. Midwest Growth Partners, a Des Moines-based private equity firm with more than $325 million under management, invested in DCA Outdoor to accelerate the platform expansion strategy. The firm, established in 2013 and headquartered in West Des Moines, Iowa, focuses on mid-market investments in the upper Midwest, typically deploying between $500,000 and $20 million in companies positioned for succession planning or growth capital. Midwest Growth Partners' sector focus on manufacturing, food, agriculture, and distribution aligned with DCA Outdoor's position at the intersection of agricultural production and commercial distribution.

Multi-brand platform architecture. With private equity backing, DCA Outdoor assembled a portfolio of 12 interconnected brands integrating nursery stock production, landscape distribution, and retail garden center operations across multiple geographic markets. The brand portfolio included Schwope Brothers Tree Farms as the core balled-and-burlapped production engine; Colonial Gardens for retail operations; Brehob Nurseries for Indiana wholesale distribution; KAT Wholesale Outdoor for additional distribution capabilities; Utopian Plants and Utopian Transport for production and logistics; Anna Evergreen for specialty nursery products; and RIO, PlantRight, and PlantRight Supply for expanded distribution reach. Operations spanned Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, and Oregon, with sales extending across more than 20 U.S. states and into Canada.

The Brehob acquisition. In 2019, DCA Outdoor completed an acquisition—purchasing Brehob Nursery, Inc., an Indiana-based wholesale nursery and landscape distributor described as a "gold-standard distributor" and "one of the pioneers of the industry." Founded in 1969, Brehob employed approximately 170 workers and operated two Indianapolis-area facilities on the south side of Indianapolis and in Westfield, making it Indiana's largest wholesale landscape distributor. The acquisition expanded DCA's geographic footprint into the Midwest distribution market while adding established customer relationships with professional landscape companies. This deal brought DCA's brand count to eight at the time and represented the company's entry into a major metropolitan market outside its Missouri base.

Path to Financial Distress

Revenue decline and operations. Gross revenue for 2024 declined to approximately $63 million, with net losses increasing to roughly $3.1 million as multiple operational and market factors affected results throughout the year. The results reflected company-specific challenges and broader agricultural sector pressures in 2024.

Several factors contributed to the distress. The loss of a large customer resulted in an uncollectible receivable of approximately $3 million. Plant disease at a key supplier's Oregon facility led to inventory impairments. Reduced demand for landscape products combined with pricing pressures compressed margins across the business, while broader economic conditions affected the landscape industry.

Agricultural sector context. DCA Outdoor's distress coincided with deterioration across agricultural lending markets. Net farm income declined from nearly $182 billion in 2022 to approximately $140.7 billion in 2024—a drop exceeding 22% in just two years. The least-profitable producers with repricing farmland loans experienced the most difficulty servicing debt, and the Minneapolis Fed noted a recent downturn in the repayment index suggesting farmers were struggling to pay debts.

Total farm debt rose approximately 7% in 2024, with operating loan volumes jumping more than 30% for the third consecutive quarter as farmers borrowed to cover operational shortfalls. Smaller and mid-tier agricultural lenders were responsible for approximately 75% of the $15 billion rise in farm lending during 2024. Agricultural lenders identified credit quality deterioration as their chief concern heading into 2025, expecting meaningful loan performance deterioration through mid-year. Nearly 70% expressed worry about grain profitability, and fewer than half of producers were projected to remain profitable in 2026—the lowest share since 2020.

Frontier Farm Credit relationship and enforcement. Frontier Farm Credit served as DCA Outdoor's primary secured lender through two affiliated entities reflecting the Farm Credit System structure established by Congress in 1916. Frontier Farm Credit, FLCA (Federal Land Credit Association) provided seven term loans made prior to the petition date, while Frontier Farm Credit, PCA (Production Credit Association) provided operating credit and working capital facilities. Together, these entities held senior secured positions on substantially all of the debtors' assets with first-priority security interests and liens.

On February 3, 2025—three weeks before the bankruptcy filing—Frontier Farm Credit terminated its forbearance arrangement with DCA Outdoor. The termination preceded enforcement actions and the chapter 11 filing.

Asset-liability disparity. Bankruptcy schedules filed with the petition listed assets at less than $60,000 against $95 million in secured debt and $5 million in unsecured obligations.

Chapter 11 Filing and First Days

On February 20, 2025, DCA Outdoor, Inc. and 20 affiliated debtors filed voluntary chapter 11 petitions in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Missouri. The cases were jointly administered under Lead Case No. 25-50053 before Chief Judge Cynthia A. Norton.

The court issued an Order to Show Cause on the petition date, and debtors filed a Cash Collateral Motion to maintain operations pending DIP financing approval. Creditor disputes dominated the docket through mid-2025.

Initial DIP financing from Frontier Farm Credit. On March 11, 2025, debtors filed a DIP Financing Motion seeking approval of a $3 million DIP facility from Frontier Farm Credit—the same prepetition secured lender that had terminated forbearance weeks earlier. The motion sought approval of the following terms:

On March 21, 2025, the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors filed a Motion for Expedited Discovery on the DIP facility. The UCC followed on April 11, 2025 with a Rule 2004 Examination Motion seeking discovery into the debtors' prepetition conduct and financial affairs.

The Trustee Motion: Creditor Revolt

Creditor alignment. On August 25, 2025, Frontier Farm Credit (both FLCA and PCA entities) and the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors filed a Joint Motion for Appointment of Chapter 11 Trustee, with the secured lender and unsecured creditor representative aligning against existing management.

The movants nominated Brent King of GlassRatner as chapter 11 trustee. Under 11 U.S.C. § 1104(a), the court may order appointment of a trustee "for cause," including fraud, dishonesty, incompetence, or gross mismanagement of debtor affairs—whether before or after case commencement. Bankruptcy courts have described trustee appointment as "the nuclear option" in chapter 11, imposing a high burden on movants. Courts tolerate some degree of mismanagement, and the "gross mismanagement" standard requires more than mere underperformance or business judgment errors.

Allegations against management. The joint motion detailed extensive allegations against Tory Schwope and DCA Outdoor management spanning operational, financial, and ethical dimensions:

Beyond operational mismanagement, movants alleged a pattern of self-dealing and insider transactions that went to the integrity of the estate:

Improper lease payments. The motion alleged that management made rent payments to insiders not included in court-approved budgets, diverting estate resources to related parties outside the ordinary course authorization framework.

Undisclosed insider payments. Movants claimed that management failed to list payments to insiders in the Statement of Financial Affairs, potentially concealing the scope of related-party transactions from creditors and the court.

Residential property misappropriation. The motion alleged that Schwope Brothers Tree Farms funded $473,210 in improvements to Tory Schwope's personal residential property.

Family involvement. Samantha Schwope, the CEO's spouse, served as a corporate officer with access to company resources.

Cannabis controversy. Movants alleged that management co-hosted events involving cannabis despite federal illegality, citing regulatory exposure.

Motion denied. On September 12, 2025, the court entered an order denying the joint motion for trustee appointment. Existing management retained control of the debtors' estates.

The denial reflects the high burden for trustee appointment, which courts have described as the "nuclear option" and requires more than mere underperformance.

Following the denial, the case proceeded toward asset sales, with management retaining authority to market and sell the estate's assets.

Second DIP Facility and Professional Turnover

Summit Investment Management enters. On September 4, 2025—eight days before the trustee motion denial—debtors filed a Second DIP Motion seeking approval of an $8.05 million DIP facility from Summit Investment Management LLC, a Denver-based private investment firm with over 20 years of experience in distressed debt acquisitions, corporate restructurings, and opportunistic credit. Founded in 2002, Summit has invested more than $1.8 billion across a spectrum of industries, with typical investments ranging between $1 million and $75 million. The firm's focus includes sub- and non-performing C&I business loans and business credits in bankruptcy.

Key terms included:

The Summit facility was necessitated after debtors repaid the prior Frontier DIP in full, requiring new financing to continue operations and fund the sale process.

The court approved the Summit DIP on an interim basis on October 3, 2025, with final approval following on November 14, 2025.

Professional changes and counsel withdrawal. On November 19, 2025, Lewis Rice LLC, the original debtors' counsel with origins tracing to a 1948 Kansas City founding and more than 150 lawyers practicing across major legal specialties, filed a motion to withdraw as lead counsel.

Colin N. Gotham of Evans & Mullinix, P.A. was subsequently retained to guide the debtors through the sale process completion. GlassRatner Advisory & Capital Group, a multi-office financial advisory firm serving attorneys, lenders, and private equity investors across the bankruptcy-restructuring continuum, was retained as an additional financial advisor alongside Focus Management Group USA, Inc., the Chicago-based turnaround firm that had served since the petition date.

Professional fee applications listed the following amounts:

The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors retained Dundon Advisers LLC, a Harrison, New York-based restructuring advisory firm established in 2016 and led by principal Matthew Dundon, as its financial advisor to provide independent analysis of the debtors' operations and sale process.

Asset Sale Process

Sale motion and structure. On December 1, 2025, debtors filed a Motion to Sell Substantially All Assets, establishing a multi-tranche sale process for the asset portfolio spanning production, distribution, retail, and equipment. The Sale Procedures Order was approved on December 11, 2025, setting the framework for marketing and auction processes extending into mid-2026.

On January 16, 2026, the debtors moved to retain Elting Auction Co. to liquidate excess machinery and equipment outside the main sale process, proposing a 5% commission plus a 3% buyer's premium (with 1% retained by the auctioneer and 2% credited to the debtors for advertising and marketing). On January 20, 2026, they filed a motion to sell that equipment by public online auction free and clear, with liens to attach to proceeds, and a companion motion seeking shortened notice (responses due February 2, 2026; hearing February 4, 2026 if required). On January 21, 2026, the U.S. Trustee filed a limited objection to the request to pay auctioneer commissions without a fee application, citing Section 330 requirements and the employment terms requiring court approval.

The three-tranche structure separates the assets as follows:

The Third Tranche liquidation is being pursued through a separate auction process, with Elting Auction Co. retained and a January 20, 2026 sale motion seeking authority for online auctions of excess equipment.

First Tranche timeline. The First Tranche follows this schedule:

Second Tranche timeline. The Missouri Core Assets follow this schedule:

Debtors also filed a motion to extend exclusivity on December 5, 2025, and the court's December 30, 2025 Exclusivity Extension Order extended the plan and disclosure statement deadline to March 26, 2026 and exclusivity to May 21, 2026.

Industry Context

Landscape services market dynamics. The global landscaping services market was estimated at $330.58 billion in 2024 and projected to reach $484.79 billion by 2030 at a compound annual growth rate of 6.7%.

Balled and burlapped production. Nursery tree production involves growing woody trees and shrubs in-ground that are harvested for resale. "Ball and burlap" (B&B) describes the harvest method where root balls are dug with surrounding soil and wrapped in burlap for transport. The method requires specific soil conditions (silt loam with clay produces tight root balls). DCA Outdoor is the nation's largest B&B producer.

Agricultural credit deterioration. The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City reported that total farm debt rose approximately 7% in 2024, with operating loan volumes jumping more than 30% for the third consecutive quarter as producers borrowed to cover operational shortfalls. Smaller and mid-tier agricultural lenders were responsible for approximately 75% of the $15 billion rise in farm lending during 2024.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis documented that net farm income declined from nearly $182 billion in 2022 to approximately $140.7 billion in 2024—a drop exceeding 22% in just two years. The Minneapolis Fed reported that least-profitable producers with repricing farmland loans would experience the most difficulty paying debts. Agricultural lenders surveyed by the American Bankers Association identified credit quality deterioration as their chief concern heading into 2025, with nearly 70% expressing worry about grain profitability and fewer than half of producers projected to remain profitable in 2026.

Key Timeline

Frequently Asked Questions

What is DCA Outdoor and what does the filing cover?

DCA Outdoor is the largest "balled and burlapped" tree producer in the United States and one of North America's leading landscape supply companies. The 21-debtor filing encompasses 12 interconnected brands spanning nursery production, wholesale distribution, and retail garden centers. The case includes a joint motion by Frontier Farm Credit and the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors seeking appointment of a chapter 11 trustee and alleging self-dealing.

Who founded DCA Outdoor and what is the company's history?

Tory Schwope founded the business, beginning his nursery in 1997 while attending Kansas State University where he majored in Business and Horticulture. He purchased his first farms in Atherton, Missouri in 2005, eventually expanding to over 500 acres across 10 farms. Schwope formed DCA Outdoor in 2016 as a holding company to consolidate operations, with Midwest Growth Partners subsequently investing to support acquisitions including the 2019 purchase of Brehob Nurseries.

What caused DCA Outdoor's financial distress?

Multiple factors contributed to the bankruptcy. The loss of a large customer resulted in approximately $3 million in uncollectible receivables. Plant disease at a key supplier's Oregon facility caused inventory impairments. Declining demand and pricing pressures compressed margins throughout 2024. Frontier Farm Credit terminated forbearance on February 3, 2025, and the filing followed lender enforcement actions later that month.

What was the trustee motion about and why was it denied?

Frontier Farm Credit and the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors jointly moved to appoint a chapter 11 trustee, alleging gross mismanagement, self-dealing, improper insider payments, and misappropriation of $473,210 for improvements to the CEO's personal residence. The court denied the motion on September 12, 2025. The denial reflects the high evidentiary burden for trustee appointment, which courts have described as the "nuclear option" requiring proof of conduct more egregious than mere underperformance.

How is DIP financing structured in this case?

The case has utilized two DIP facilities. The initial $3 million facility from Frontier Farm Credit at SOFR + 5.5% was repaid and replaced by an $8.05 million facility from Summit Investment Management, a Denver-based distressed debt investor. The Summit facility carries 12.5% interest with a 270-day term, $200,000 upfront fee, 2.0% exit fee, and $200,000 break-up fee.

What is the asset sale structure?

Assets are being sold in three tranches. The First Tranche includes retail, distribution, and production operations excluding Missouri Core Assets, with an auction scheduled for February 26, 2026. The Second Tranche covers Missouri Core Assets with a June 19, 2026 auction date. The Third Tranche addresses excess machinery and equipment through liquidation.

The Third Tranche equipment liquidation is being implemented through a separate online-auction motion, with Elting Auction Co. retained as auctioneer and a U.S. Trustee objection filed to the requested fee-application waiver.

What happened with DCA Outdoor's legal counsel?

Lewis Rice LLC, the original debtors' counsel with roots tracing to 1948, filed a motion to withdraw in November 2025. Colin N. Gotham of Evans & Mullinix was subsequently retained to guide the sale process through completion.

What brands does DCA Outdoor operate?

Key brands include Schwope Brothers Tree Farms (core balled-and-burlapped production), Colonial Gardens (retail garden center ranked #64 nationally), Brehob Nurseries (Indiana's largest wholesale landscape distributor), KAT Wholesale Outdoor (distribution), Utopian Plants and Utopian Transport (production and logistics), Anna Evergreen (specialty nursery), and RIO, PlantRight, and PlantRight Supply (additional distribution operations).

Who is presiding over the case?

Chief Judge Cynthia A. Norton presides over the case in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Missouri.

What are the key deadlines in the sale process?

For the First Tranche: bid deadline is February 19, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. CT, with auction on February 26, 2026 at 9:30 a.m. CT and closing deadline of March 31, 2026. For the Second Tranche: bid deadline is June 5, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. CT, with auction on June 19, 2026 at 9:30 a.m. CT and closing deadline of July 31, 2026.

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