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CCCA_V2No2_Agribusiness-FIN.qxd:CCCA_V1No1_DriversSeat-FIN.qxd 5/1/08 2:48 PM Page 48 Feature better ways of making the core of what is our food. It means that Buckingham says. He predicts that will change, and that growers from the agriculture business point of view, you can become will begin to develop and utilize standards similar to the way wine- involved in things like breeding new varieties of seeds, develop- growers (thinkVQA) and European produce growers have. ing better ways of protecting crops, looking for newer markets. Ruest adds that such a system would help solve one of Canada’s “So from a legal perspective, you find that you work with current concerns:a finite amount of arable land.“There’s an increas- other parties here and abroad on things like research and devel- ing demand for a product,yet there is a relatively static area that can opment for new seed varieties, or you work on licensing your be used to grow those crops in Canada,”he points out.“The way of own seed varieties.” meeting that demand is by increasing the production that comes out Canada’s ability to carve out a space for itself, both domestical- of those areas,and that comes through technological development.” ly and internationally, will largely depend on intellectual property initiatives that create new ways for marking ours as a “quality In-house counsel’s role product,” adds Buckingham. ”In the old days, if you had a good For in-house counsel, these changes offer an opportunity for uti- lizing their industry expertise while leaving room for “ world population shift and the growth creative solutions.And in some cases, Ruest notes, it It’s the Chinas, the Indias. It’s the will mean recognizing that there are corporate needs that fall outside their practice or corporate strengths. in those countries that is really driving “From our perspective, we aren’t very much ” the agricultural cycle. involved in the development of technology per se,” Ruest says.“We’ve taken a view that that is a field that Leslie O’Donoghue, Senior Vice-President, General Counsel and is so complex, where there is so much capital, that it’s Corporate Secretary, Agrium Inc., Calgary best left to companies that deal with that exclusively, and we would rather partner with them than develop product,you’d put a trademark on it.That’s okay if you’re a proces- our own technology. sor and you’ve got a fairly tightly integrated production system. “That means we are partnering with people that we have a “But if you get out into more primary products — any soft fruit, great deal of confidence in, that do have proper patents in place, any kinds of products that require the consumer to identify these and that will be protecting them if they are infringed upon.” quality indicators — there hasn’t been a whole lot going on,” Similarly, jurisdictional issues, particularly related to IP Le défi agricole Le secteur agricole est en pleine expansion. Entre les transactions, consolidations et autres défis technologiques, les avocats ne chôment pas. ’image de la ferme familiale a beaucoup Don Buckinham, professeur d’agriculture a La transaction, un exemple parmi L changé. Le fermier d’aujourd’hui est un l’Université d’Ottawa. Les fermiers sont de d’autres,est stimulante pour les juristes qui y entrepreneur qualifié, qui tient les rennes plus en plus sophistiqués,par rapport à leurs travaillent,note l’avocate générale deViterra. d’une industrie de plusieurs millions de dol- pratiques de mise en marché tant aux plans « C’est le défi de gérer une fusion et de ten- lars, et qui est secondé par une armée gran- national qu’international. » ter de réunir deux manières distinctes de dissante de conseillers juridiques. faire des affaires », confie Sandra Swystun. De nouvelles lois apparaissent pour mieux Consolidation encadrer cette nouvelle réalité, où papa et L’une des facettes de cette nouvelle réal- De nouveaux besoins maman passent le flambeau aux investisseurs. ité : la consolidation du marché. Mais Jean-Marc Ruest, l’avocat-conseil de « Vous avez une génération qui a investi L’été dernier, la vente du géant United la compagnie James Richardson Inter- beaucoup dans la ferme, mais qui n’a pas Grain Growers Ltd., évalué à 1,8 milliard de national, estime que cette phase de conso- nécessairement de successeurs », explique dollars,a déclenché une guerre de prix,rem- lidation tire à sa fin. « Nous avons vu la Patricia Warsaba, associée chez Robertson portée par Saskatchewan Wheat Pool Inc. part du lion des grosses fusions », juge-t-il. Stromberg Pedersen LLP, à Regina. Les Viterra, l’entité formée de la fusion des deux Les yeux de l’industrie se tournent transactions vont devenir plus complexes. » entreprises, est aujourd’hui la plus grosse maintenant vers d’autres enjeux, comme la « C’est une période intéressante,convient compagnie de manutention du grain au pays. demande de pays émergents en nourriture, 48 CCCA Canadian Corporate Counsel Association SUMMER 2008