A majority of the 38 active Canadian Food Grains Bank grow projects in Manitoba have been harvested, according to regional representative, Gordon Janzen.

"I think the predominant thought or feeling is that people are surprised at how good the harvest has been, considering the very dry drought time that we had during the growing season," said Janzen. "That's not to say that there are number of areas and growing projects that were way below average, so there's a lot of variability, but overall farmers have been pleasantly surprised."

For many local grow project groups, harvest day is one of celebration, excitement and community as volunteers typically gather for a noon meal before heading out to take the crop off together.

"The growing projects are all different. Some of them have small groups that gather together. On the weekend, there was a large group around Boissevain, around thirty people from the community gathered together to celebrate the harvest and what they did together," said Janzen. "There's really a lot of excitement in groups when they get together."

Harvesting the Landmark crop. Submitted photo/Matt Plett