Continuing wet conditions slowed some harvest operations in Manitoba last week, but the past few days of good weather have helped get things back on track.

Winter wheat harvest is well underway, with good quality yields ranging from 55 to 90 bushels per acre. Swathing or preharvest management of the earliest-seeded spring cereal and canola crops are also on-going. Some producers have also been able to harvest their spring wheat, although yield hasn't been reported yet.

However, crop lodging may be a challenge for some areas. According to Mantioba Agriculture's weekly crop report from earlier this week, some canola crops in the northwest are recovering from rain and wind this past week, as well as some cereal crops in the southwest. Lodging is also very prevalent in the central region, with some spring wheat fields looking soft, as lodging has been preventing good drying conditions.

"[Since the beginning of July] we've had numerous wind and rain events that have either caused fields that hadn't lodged before to lodge, or fields that had lodged to lodge again," says Manitoba Agriculture cereal specialist, Pam de Rocquigny. "So it definitely is something that's noticeable if you drive across some of the regions... Harvest management will just be, you know, a little bit more of a challenge in terms of dealing with some of the variability that can be seen with a lodged crop, but it's something producers will deal with as they start their harvest operations."

Despite lodging in some areas, initial pea harvest started last week in southwestern Manitoba, and about 25 to 40 per cent of canola crops were swathed in the eastern side of the central region as of Monday.

The full crop report is on the Manitoba Agriculture website.