A new government report estimates that Kansas farmers harvested 396 million bushels of winter wheat this year.

The Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service said Wednesday that would make this harvest 43 percent larger than last year’s drought-stricken crop. It is also up 2 percent from last month’s forecast.

The agency says this year’s crop was cut off 9 million acres, making it the largest area harvested since 2006 in Kansas. The average yields were 44 bushels per acre, far better than the 35 bushels per acre Kansas farmers were averaging a year ago.

The monthly forecast is based on crop conditions as of July 1. By that time, the harvest in Kansas was 99 percent complete.

This is also is the earliest Kansas harvest on record.