The corn harvest has begun in southeastern Manitoba.

Marc Hutlet with Marc Hutlet seeds at Ste. Anne says quite a few producers in the area have started to harvest silage corn, especially those with the earlier silage hybrids.

"Yields are good," says Hutlet. "And so I think quality will be excellent too."

Hutlet says compared to the "fiasco" of 2019, taking this year's crop off has been a pleasurable experience thus far.

"Some fields are in that thirty per cent dry matter already," notes Hutlet. "So it's time to go."

According to Hutlet, the start of the grain corn harvest is still a few weeks away. A killer frost this week would accelerate that in terms of shutting down the plant. Yet, Hutlet says producers would love more time before the temperature dips too much below the freezing mark. That way, they can get black layer on the corn, which means it achieves physiological maturity. He says we are not quite there but still expects good quality corn this year. Hutlet says there have been many years where the corn has been combined having half to three quarter milk line and having good quality. He notes that is where things are at right now.

Speaking of frost, Hutlet says there have been a few nights with some light frost over the last week. But he notes the plants are still alive and feeding the shank.

"Progress has been made on maturity since the light frost last week and this week," he says.

Hutlet says the weather this summer has been nearly ideal for corn. He notes there was a ten day stretch where more moisture would have been desired. Yet, within a region you can have one producer who receives a little more rain than a producer just three miles down the road. Overall, Hutlet says there is a pretty good corn harvest expected in the southeast this year.

Meanwhile, Hutlet says the soybean harvest has also now started in the southeast. He notes the soybeans could have used a little more rain this summer but notes the sizing of the bean is relatively good and he thinks yields could be better than recent years.

"We lost a lot of bushels last fall because of the harvest conditions," he says. "So I think we will be a little bit above that."