The sunflower harvest has begun in Manitoba.

Ben Friesen, purchasing manager at Scoular Canada at Winkler, says oil sunflowers are starting to come off as well as some of the confection crop.

He expects a lot of desiccation to take place this year.

"I think it will be upwards in the 75 to 80 per cent probably desiccated. Guys aren't waiting for the frost...it doesn't look like it's really happening anywhere in the near future yet."

Friesen does expect to see some yield reduction due to the windstorms that occurred over the summer. He added diseases such as head rot don't seem to be a major concern this year, as most of the disease was in the stock itself.

Sunflower acres were down in the province this year, according to Friesen, who says there was approximately 30,000 acres of confection planted, which is down about 50 per cent from last year. He added there was about 30,000 to 40,000 acres of oil sunflowers planted this year.