Agricultural Law NetLetter - Sunday, September 7, 2014 - Issue 307

A Justice of the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench has considered the provisions of the Alberta PPSA which give animal feed suppliers priority over other secured creditors for feed provided to animals. The Court held that this priority only exists from the date of registration, and that unlike the registration of personal money security interests, the registration of a security interest for animal feed does not have retroactive effect. The Court also rejected the feed supplier's argument that it was entitled to apply payments to its oldest outstanding invoices, as the presumption that it was entitled to do so was rebutted by virtue of an agreement reached between the feed supplier, the secured creditor (Farm Credit Canada) and a hog farmer pursuant to which Farm Credit Canada guaranteed the payments of feed bills invoiced after February 1, 2013. [Editor's Note: According to the decision, this is one of the few reported cases which considers the priority of security