WINNIPEG, Manitoba/CHICAGO - Fields across the Canadian Prairies and the U.S. Northern Plains are among the driest on record, raising production risks in one of the world's key growing regions for canola and spring wheat.

As planting season begins, the dusty soils generate fears that seeds will fail to germinate or yield smaller crops in a year when demand for canola already far outstrips supply. Unusually strong wheat exports to China for animal feed have also lowered global supplies of the main ingredient in bread and pasta.