Soybean harvest has started in southern Manitoba.

Dennis Lange, pulse specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives, says due to the heat and dry conditions during the growing season, growers shouldn't expect any bumper crop yields.

"I think we're probably going to see an average close to that 30 bushel range, with some fields poking up a little higher, but there will be some 20s and 25s around as well this year," he says. "Because our rainfall didn't come until the latter part of August, we're not going to see the big yields that we were maybe hoping for this year."

Combines are also rolling on dry bean fields.

"Yields have been anywhere from 1400 up to 1900, with a few reported cases of around 1000 pounds on some pintos," says Lange.

He says for the most part, both soybeans and edible beans were mature enough that the frost last week did not cause any significant damage.

"The majority of the soybeans were far enough along...what you will find is some of the low areas of the field where the pods were still green, that those pods and seeds probably froze. Most of them will shrink up and probably not make it into the combine hopper," he says. "Edible beans were a little bit further along. Same kind of idea as soybeans with damage in the low-lying areas, but the crop was far enough along that we're not going to see any significant impacts."