Manitoba's flax harvest is about 40 per cent complete, which is a bit behind schedule for this time of year.

Provincial Oilseed Specialist Dane Froese says most of the remaining crop is north of the Yellowhead Highway.

"It's been a bit of a slow struggle in September," he said. "We started off with a bang in August when a lot of cereals and canola came down, but later season crops, flax and soybeans, in particular, have been pushed to the back burner and now with September being consistently moist, it's a bit of a struggle trying to find a dry spot to get on the field and be able to pull the crop off at or below accepted storage moisture levels"

Froese says yields are looking pretty good, with an average somewhere in the range of about 25 to 30 bushels per acre. He adds quality is also good, with large and heavy seed size.

There was about 38,000 insured acres of flax grown in Manitoba this year, which is down from close to 50,000 acres in previous years. Froese notes acres were down across North America.