Policy and Practices Research: Legal Landscape

EMILI is creating a series of guidebooks to help people, and especially non-lawyers working in the agri-food sector, understand key legal issues connected with the use of agricultural data.

  • Ownership: What does it mean to own data? Who owns agricultural data gathered on-farm in Canada?
  • Privacy: How do federal, and provincial, privacy legislation apply to agri-food data?  How does this match the privacy expectations of producers?
  • Agtech Contracts and Data Use Agreements:  How should a non-lawyer read the end user agreement for an agtech agreement?

Published Guidebooks


Status Updates

  • 20 February 2024:  Contracts guidebook content presented to webinar for the Canadian Association of Farm Advisors.
  • 30 January 2025:  Ownership guidebook published (View/Download PDF)
  • November and December 2024:  Contracts guidebook content presented at FCC Young Farmer Summit.
  • September 2024:  Final editing on ownership and competition guidebooks.
  • 24 April 2024:  Contracts guidebook published (View/Download PDF)
  • 4 April 2024: Panel presentation to preview Contracts guidebook at University of Calgary Simpson Centre workshop on agriculture data.
  • November 2023: Contacts guidebook to be published in Spring 2024.
  • June 2022: Initial meeting of the project working group.
Round Image

Producers and other users of digital agriculture technology are right to ask questions about the legal arrangements that impact the use of agri-food data. Building up the knowledge, especially among non-lawyers, helps to bring more people into the conversation and will support the continued adoption of digital tools in the agriculture and food sector.

Dan Lussier, Director, Agri-Food Data, EMILI

Project partners