The prolonged dry spell is taking a toll on crops in eastern Manitoba.

Terry Buss from the Manitoba Agriculture office in Beausejour says the lack of rain is showing. "I have seen some drought stress in crops now, particularly on lighter textured soils, or crops that didn't root as well as they should have earlier on and have problems with disease or just relatively poor root development." But overall, Buss says crops are in relatively good shape.

He adds the winter wheat harvest is well underway with yields varying widely from 40 to 100 bushels per acre. Buss suspects lower yields may be due to root disease. He explains,"I did see a lot of root disease in winter wheat this year, more than I've seen in the past. And so that might have something to do with it."

The harvest of forage seed is also underway. As for hay, Buss tells us the second cut has been a disappointment due to lack of moisture. He adds an inch of rain would do a lot of good right now, especially for corn, soybeans and sunflowers.