EMILI has released the third guidebook in its Legal Landscape series to help people working in the agri-food sector – including farmers, technologists, agronomists and other stakeholders – understand key legal issues connected to digital agriculture technologies and the use of farm data.
The newly released Competition guidebook provides an overview of legal principles associated with competition law and its application to digital agriculture technology.
“Competition affects all areas of agriculture, from the cattle sold at the local auction mart to the newest farm machinery,” said Colin Hornby, General Manager of Keystone Agriculture Producers. “Farmers depend on fair, competitive markets to access the tools, technologies, and services they need for sustainable operations.”
“Strong competition laws help create opportunities and the legal framework intended to protect both businesses and consumers while also ensuring that farmers have options when it comes to equipment, right to repair, and digital agriculture technologies,” he said.
Key takeaways from the guidebook include:
- Competition law and agriculture share a lengthy history, with a focus on getting products to market and fair prices for farm inputs, including agricultural equipment and, more recently, digital agriculture technologies.
- Determining if a business practice violates Canadian competition law can be challenging. The law balances fair competition with market efficiency and considers the broader market impact to assess whether or not behaviour is anti-competitive. Concerns can be raised with the Competition Bureau, but competition law is not designed to directly address isolated price changes or consumer protection issues.
EMILI has worked in collaboration with legal academics and practicing lawyers on the Legal Landscape series. The Competition guidebook was authored by Anthony D. Rosborough, Assistant Professor of Law and Computer Science at Dalhousie University, and edited by Dan Lussier, Director, Agri-Food Data at EMILI.
The Legal Landscape series also includes other guidebooks that address agtech and ag data contracts and agricultural data ownership.
“Taken together with EMILI’s data literacy course, the Fundamentals of Farm Data, these resources provide people working in the Canadian agri-food sector with the knowledge and tools needed to fully participate in conversations surrounding the growing use of digital technology and data in agriculture,” said EMILI Managing Director Jacqueline Keena.
Download a PDF of EMILI’s Competition guidebook.