Canadian Lawyer

20 A U G U S T 2 0 1 5 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m hen the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased 115,000 acres of Saskatchewan farmland in Decem- ber 2013 and expressed interest in more, it trig- gered a nerve in the agri- culture industry. "It was a surprise, I think for almost everybody," says Bob Kasian, of MacPherson Leslie & Tyerman LLP in Regina, who has seen a spike in interest in land investment in the last several years. "We regularly get inqui- ries from people around the world who are interested in farmland. . . . But it's been a challenge or impossible for them to get into the market as a result of these foreign ownership regulations." Representatives of pension funds and other investment vehicles have regularly expressed interest in the Prairie province known for its arable and relatively inexpen- sive land. Agricultural property is increas- ingly being seen as a good investment at a time when there is less of it and Canada remains a safe harbour for investment. International concerns over food secu- rity and food supply and the agricultural industry, overall, are also driving demand. A significant catalyst of the various protec- tion policies on farmland across Canada is food sustainability and the viability of agricultural production. GRAIN, an inter- national movement supporting the struggle for community-controlled and biodiver- sity-based food systems, monitors "land grabs" across the world. While it reports much of the international acquisition is by the agribusiness sector, it identifies financial companies and sovereign wealth funds as being behind many of the purchases. In Canada, in addition to foreign inter- ests, corporate investment is identified as among the pressures. And those pressures tend to vary, according to geography, econ- omy, and other demands. The National Farmers Union, which has been encourag- ing farmland ownership restrictions across the country, indicates in a report earlier this year that land grabs surged following the 2008 food and financial crisis. Pension funds began investing in farmland in 2010 and a U.S. pension fund manager is now considered one of the world's largest insti- tutional owners of farmland. There was an outcry in Saskatchewan when CPPIB bought the farmland — which produces wheat, barley, canola, etc. — from Assiniboia Farmland LP for $128 million, even though the purchase was deemed compliant by the justice ministry. It also brought attention to pension funds' invest- ments in productive farmland in Canada. The fear the legacy of the family farm is being relegated to the history books by both foreign ownership and corporate investors has led, in part, to a discussion of farmland ownership restrictions in Saskatchewan. Currently only Canadian citizens and per- manent residents can purchase more than 10 acres of farmland and corporations have to be 100-per-cent Canadian owned. The government announced consulta- tions and a review of the farmland owner- ship rules under the Saskatchewan Farm Security Act and launched an online survey in May. In the interim, temporary restric- tions have been instituted on the acquisi- tion of land holdings by non-family trusts with more than 10 beneficiaries, pension plans, and administrators of pension plans. Laurier Donais, executive director of the financial programs branch with the Sas- katchewan Ministry of Agriculture, said the review was spurred by the wide interest in R E A L E S TAT E W HUAN TRAN Putting a price on farmland Almost every province has rules in place to govern who can own increasingly valuable arable land. By Marg. Bruineman

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