diff --git a/etc/oai.ini b/etc/oai.ini
index 4cefe39..f7be577 100644
--- a/etc/oai.ini
+++ b/etc/oai.ini
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 ; badXMLLog = bad.log
 ; httpUser = myUsername
 ; httpPass = myPassword
+; stopAfter = 100
 ;
 ; The section_name may be passed to harvest_oai.php as a parameter to harvest only
 ; records from that source.  This is also the directory name that records will be
@@ -141,7 +142,11 @@
 ;
 ; httpPass is an optional password in case the OAI repository is behind HTTP basic
 ; authentication.  It must be set in combination with httpUser.
-
+; 
+; stopAfter may be set to a natural positive number 'n' in order to stop harvesting
+; after just the first 'n' records have been harvested. This option can be used for
+; testing purposes. It allows the harvesting of smaller data sets.
+;
 ; SAMPLE CONFIGURATION FOR OPEN JOURNAL SYSTEMS
 ;[OJS]
 ;url = http://ojs.myuniversity.edu/oai
diff --git a/src/OaiPmh/Harvester.php b/src/OaiPmh/Harvester.php
index fcbdfea..fc7a699 100644
--- a/src/OaiPmh/Harvester.php
+++ b/src/OaiPmh/Harvester.php
@@ -106,6 +106,19 @@ class Harvester
      */
     protected $identifyResponse = null;
 
+    /**
+     * Flag to limit number of harvested records (null = no limit).
+     * Used only for testing.
+     *
+     * @var ?int
+     */
+    protected $stopAfter = null;
+
+    /**
+     * Count harvested records.
+     */
+    protected $recordsCount = 0;
+
     /**
      * Constructor.
      *
@@ -235,6 +248,17 @@ public function launch()
 
             // Keep harvesting as long as a resumption token is provided:
             while ($token !== false) {
+                // If stopAfter is set, stop harvesting after given limit
+                if (!empty($this->stopAfter)
+                    && $this->recordsCount >= $this->stopAfter
+                ) {
+                    $this->writeLine(
+                        "reached limit of records to harvest: " . $this->stopAfter
+                    );
+                    $this->writeLine("stop harvesting.");
+                    $token = false;
+                    break;
+                }
                 // Save current state in case we need to resume later:
                 $this->stateManager->saveState(
                     $set,
@@ -246,9 +270,11 @@ public function launch()
             }
         }
 
-        // If we made it this far, all was successful. Save last harvest info
-        // and clean up the stored state.
-        $this->stateManager->saveDate($explicitHarvestEndDate);
+        // If we made it this far, all was successful. Save last harvest info and
+        // clean up the stored state (unless we have a limit imposed by stopAfter)
+        if (empty($this->stopAfter)) {
+            $this->stateManager->saveDate($explicitHarvestEndDate);
+        }
         $this->stateManager->clearState();
     }
 
@@ -312,9 +338,13 @@ protected function getRecords($params)
 
         // Save the records from the response:
         if ($response->ListRecords->record) {
+            $newRecords = count($response->ListRecords->record);
             $this->writeLine(
-                'Processing ' . count($response->ListRecords->record) . " records..."
+                '[' . $this->recordsCount . ' records harvested] Processing '
+                . $newRecords . " records..."
             );
+            // count numRecords
+            $this->recordsCount += $newRecords;
             $this->writer->write($response->ListRecords->record);
         }
 
@@ -426,5 +456,8 @@ protected function storeMiscSettings($settings)
         if (isset($settings['dateGranularity'])) {
             $this->granularity = $settings['dateGranularity'];
         }
+        if (isset($settings['stopAfter'])) {
+            $this->stopAfter = $settings['stopAfter'];
+        }
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/OaiPmh/HarvesterCommand.php b/src/OaiPmh/HarvesterCommand.php
index 049bf44..35baad5 100644
--- a/src/OaiPmh/HarvesterCommand.php
+++ b/src/OaiPmh/HarvesterCommand.php
@@ -274,6 +274,11 @@ protected function configure()
                 InputOption::VALUE_REQUIRED,
                 'Filename (relative to harvest directory) to log'
                 . ' XML fixed by sanitize setting'
+            )->addOption(
+                'stopAfter',
+                null,
+                InputOption::VALUE_NONE,
+                'an option to stop harvesting after the first n records of each set.'
             );
     }
 
@@ -365,6 +370,12 @@ protected function execute(InputInterface $input, OutputInterface $output)
         }
 
         // All done.
+        if (isset($settings['stopAfter'])) {
+            $this->writeLine(
+                'stopAfter option set; '
+                . 'all sources may not have been fully harvested.'
+            );
+        }
         if ($processed == 0 && $skipped > 0) {
             $this->writeLine(
                 'No valid settings found; '
diff --git a/tests/unit-tests/src/VuFindTest/OaiPmh/HarvesterTest.php b/tests/unit-tests/src/VuFindTest/OaiPmh/HarvesterTest.php
index e3a3add..c5a1a64 100644
--- a/tests/unit-tests/src/VuFindTest/OaiPmh/HarvesterTest.php
+++ b/tests/unit-tests/src/VuFindTest/OaiPmh/HarvesterTest.php
@@ -338,6 +338,45 @@ public function testListRecordsWithResumption()
         $harvester->launch();
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Test that harvesting is stopped after x records
+     * if stopAfter is set to x.
+     *
+     * @return void
+     */
+    public function testListRecordsWithStopAfterOption()
+    {
+        $comm = $this->getMockCommunicator();
+        $expectedSettings0 = [
+            'metadataPrefix' => 'oai_dc', 'set' => 'xyzzy',
+            'from' => '2016-07-01', 'until' => '2016-07-31',
+        ];
+        $comm->expects($this->exactly(1))->method('request')
+            ->withConsecutive(
+                ['ListRecords', $expectedSettings0],
+            )
+            ->willReturnOnConsecutiveCalls(
+                simplexml_load_string($this->getFakeResponse())
+            );
+        $writer = $this->getMockRecordWriter();
+        $writer->expects($this->exactly(1))->method('write')
+            ->with($this->isInstanceOf('SimpleXMLElement'));
+        $sm = $this->getMockStateManager();
+        $sm->expects($this->once())->method('clearState');
+        $sm->expects($this->never())->method('saveState');
+        $harvester = $this->getHarvester(
+            [
+                'set' => 'xyzzy', 'dateGranularity' => 'YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ssZ',
+                'from' => '2016-07-01', 'until' => '2016-07-31',
+                'stopAfter' => 100
+            ],
+            $comm,
+            $writer,
+            $sm
+        );
+        $harvester->launch();
+    }
+
     /**
      * Test a bad resumption token error.
      *