Gary Stanford finishes his second hay cut and begins harvesting grain near Magrath in Alta. this week.
Despite a rainy start to the growing season, the current outlook looks promising.
"My neighbors have started harvesting. I reached out to them to see what their yields are and they say they are now more average than their long term average. "Barley and peas are doing pretty well."
"May looked very bad earlier this year, so I'm very happy with how things are now." I do," Stanford said.
North of Lethbridge, early results are a bit mixed.
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David Bishop runs a farm near the Barons of Alta. He just finished harvesting dryland peas and said his fields could have used more moisture in July.
"The heat hurts a little," said Bishop. "The peas are a little below our average, but considering how hot we were, they were still respectable, so I'm not too disappointed.
Both Stanford and Bishop say the rains are coming too late to affect the crops, and they hope to continue to have blue skies for the next few weeks, but temperatures are cooler.
"The next few weeks of sunshine and temperatures above 28-30 degrees would be perfect," Stanford said.
"The chances of firing are so high that if you go over 32 or 33, you don't even combine," Bishop said.
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According to Environment Canada, temperatures in southern Alberta are expected to remain around 30 degrees for at least the next week.
At this point Bishop is predicting an early harvest, and the outlook heading into fall feels much like the weather. In other words, it's sunny.
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"Compared to last year, there is some more grain in the bins, which is good," said Bishop. Told.
" Prices have been solid, not as high as last year, but still strong, so this year is very optimistic for us, for agriculture."
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