The harvest got underway in the southeast over the weekend with a handful of fields being combined. Brian Dueck of Seine River Seed Farm at Ste. Anne took off a 100 acre field of two-row barley and likes what he saw.

"It's yielding really well, kernels are plump, the quality is good and, for once, the fields are actually dry enough where we're not mudding. We've had a struggle for a few years and this year it sure seems like it'll be more the opposite, that we might actually even look for some precipitation later on."

Dueck says the barley averaged about 105 bushels per acre which is about 10 per cent above the long term average. He notes it will be another week to ten days before they start combining spring wheat and canola but says both crops look very promising.

"The cereals and the canola are all looking really good. The soybeans and corn will need a shot of precipitation, later on, to get them filled out completely."