Saskatchewan Wheat Pool (SWP), Canada's largest publicly traded agri-business cooperative, has blamed severe drought last summer and prolonged dryness through the spring period this year for dramatic drops in its Q3 2002 results. EBITDA for the Q3 was C$2.7m (US$1.74m) compared to C$26.2m in the previous year. Year-to-date EBITDA was C$37.4m compared to C$80.1m a year earlier. Drought conditions throughout western Canada have persisted since the summer of 2001, particularly in Saskatchewan, resulting in an EBITDA decline of approximately C$30m. In addition, there was a year-over-year net reduction of about C$13m in EBITDA from businesses that have been sold as part of SWP's divestiture programme. These results overshadowed success in reducing costs and continued strong results generated by Can-Oat Milling and Prairie Malt Limited.