Canada's status as the world's fifth-largest agricultural product exporter makes the country of 38 million people attractive to Rabobank, which specializes in global food and agriculture lending.

"To be an ag and food lender, you would be remiss if you weren't in Canada," Roxane Lieverse, Rabobank's head of Canada Agricultural Banking, said in an interview. "We believe we have a sweet space coming in."

(Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

By Rod Nickel