Third quarter earnings seven times previous year

CALGARY, Alberta -- Agrium Inc. (TSX and NYSE: AGU) announced today record results for third quarter earnings, with net earnings for the third quarter of 2008 of $367-million ($2.31 diluted earnings per share) more than four times the previous third quarter record achieved in 2004 and more than seven times above the $51-million ($0.38 diluted earnings per share) in the third quarter of 2007.

Net earnings for the first nine months of the year were a record of approximately $1.2-billion ($7.54 diluted earnings per share), more than four times the previous record for the first nine months of $269-million ($2.01 diluted earnings per share) set in 2007.