It won't be long before soybean harvest ramps up in Manitoba, with reports that the first soybean crops started to come of the field last week.

Because harvest is so close to reaching full swing, Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers production specialist Kristen Podolsky says it's important to be monitoring maturity to ensure the beans are harvested in a timely fashion.

"A general guideline is if the crop is still green, we probably are going to be another two to three weeks away from harvest. If the crop is yellow, we're probably only a week or two away, and then if the crop is brown, harvest is probably around the corner, and it's just a matter of waiting for some drying days to get that seed moisture down to about 14 or 15 per cent, which is when we'll be starting in the beans," Podolsky says.

Podolsky says now is also the time to review combine settings, with a majority of time spent focusing on the cutter bar, as she says most losses during soybean harvest occur at the header during gathering.

"When we're harvesting soybeans, you want that cutter bar to be within two inches of the ground in order to reduce losses, since the majority of soybean yield is at the lower part of the plant," Podolsky says. "So, things like adjustments to the feeder house or to the back axle of the combine, anything that can get that cutter bar lower to the ground. Checking the flex on your flex header, making sure your knives are sharp, guards are tight — all those types of adjustments can be made ahead of time."

Once in the field, Podolsky says it's important to adjust on-the-go and measure losses.