Manitoba Manitoba: Canada’s canola and wheat crops are facing failure as farmers suffer from continuous drought.

The most important Canadian rapeseed crops used in the production of cooking oils and animal feeds mature weeks early due to the extreme heat witnessed in the region. Early crops may not produce pods containing small dark seeds crushed for oil.

The Canadian prairie grows more canola than any other part of the world.

Farmer Andy Keane fears that only 20 percent of regular rapeseed crops can be harvested.

“My canola is hanging on a thread,” said Keane, 42, as Reuters reported.

According to Keane, canola crops were hit by such a long-term drought 33 years ago.

Due to concerns about drought and heat, canola and wheat futures have reached new highs.

Wheat crops are also at risk in North Dakota, which crosses the border with the United States, with up to 50 percent of the crops dead.

According to the federal government’s Drought Monitor in Canada, ongoing Canadian droughts are spread throughout southern Saskatchewan and Alberta.

The Manitoba state government said in a weekly report on Tuesday that crops were deteriorating rapidly.

Canada’s canola and wheat yields could be millions of tonnes less than previously estimated, said Bruce Burnett, head of market and weather information at Glacier Farm Media.

Farmer Ted Dyke is also worried about what he saw on his farm in Winkler, Manitoba.

“If you don’t know what you’re looking for, it doesn’t seem to be a problem,” he told Reuters.

“There’s been a lot of damage, no doubt,” Dyke said. “I tend to be optimists, but in reality I think I’m looking at at most half the crops.”

In addition, Canadian wheat plant officials expect over-the-counter prices of wheat products to rise by the fall if the country’s crops do not recover.