Zelenka Farms, a plant grower for big-box retailers including Lowe's Cos., Kmart, Shopko and Home Depot Inc., has filed for bankruptcy protection, blaming an unusually wet spring, Dow Jones Newswires reported yesterday. Lawyers who put Zelenka Farms into chapter 11 protection on Friday told a judge that they are looking for buyers to take over the Irving, Texas-based company's six farms, which employ 1,519 people located in Tennessee, Oregon and other states. During a court hearing on Monday, Zelenka Farms bankruptcy lawyer Holland O'Neil said the company's financial troubles began in 2014 but worsened dramatically after an unexpectedly rainy April and May, leaving it without enough money to pay down part of a loan before a June 3 deadline.
