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CCCA_V2No2_Agribusiness-FIN.qxd:CCCA_V1No1_DriversSeat-FIN.qxd 5/1/08 2:45 PM Page 44 Feature Agribusiness is booming. Rising food demand from nations climb- ing out of poverty and a growing market for biofuels have touched off unprecedented profitability, a wave of consolidations, and a host ofemergingtechnologychallenges. Life is never dull for the lawyers who serve this white-hot industry. By Heather Greenwood Davis Groundswell f your image of the family farm hasn’t changed in the last few years, it should. Gone are the Idays when the Canadian agriculture indus- try could be regarded with disdain, lands righteously seized for more profitable real estate ventures and the plight of the farmer viewed as a hard luck choice. Today, agribusiness is touted as the “new oil” — Canada’s high-growth potential industry.Today’s farmer isn’t an American Gothic stereotype,but a skilled entrepreneur holding the reins to a multi-billion dollar crop, steering the wheel of expensive and innovative farming technology and armed with an ever-growing team of corporate counsel. “It’s an interesting time,” says University of Ottawa agri- cultural law professor Don Buckingham.“Farmers are get- ting much more sophisticated about how they’re going to market in both national and international markets, and the MARNIE BURKHART, JAZHART STUDIOS media is getting much savvier about covering it. Down- Leslie O’Donoghue on-the-farm stories used to be a sleeper — nobody Senior Vice-President, General Counsel and Secretary thought much about it — but that has certainly changed.” Agrium Inc., Calgary 44 CCCA Canadian Corporate Counsel Association SUMMER 2008