Snow Plowing Tips for Safe Winter Roads

Nov 20, 2025
By Farms.com

Simple winter plowing techniques that help keep roads wide safe and clear

Snow plowing is an important winter chore on any farm. Proper plowing techniques make a big difference, especially during long and snowy winters on a farm. The first weeks of winter usually decide how well driveways and farm paths on your property hold up for the rest of the season, which is why a strong start is essential.

One of the most helpful tips is to begin plowing as wide as possible. The first two or three plows of the season create the foundation for winter road management. When snow berms start forming on each side, they grow inward as the season progresses. If early plowing is too narrow, there will be limited space for future snow, and the roadway will shrink quickly. Starting wide gives room for the buildup that will come later.

It is also important to fight for every inch of road. Each time you plow, try to stay close to your original wide path. If you give up space early in the season, the road can become much narrower by February. Staying consistent helps prevent problems during heavy snow periods.

Plowing at the correct speed can also improve results. Many experienced farm operators recommend traveling around 15 to 20 miles per hour on open stretches. A faster speed helps the snow lift and move farther away from the plow, rather than forming a heavy windrow close to the blade.

Chains are worth considering if you are using a truck. Putting chains on the tires takes only a short amount of time and can prevent getting stuck, saving far more time and effort later. Good traction is essential on icy or uneven roads.

Safety is always important, especially on narrow or winding roads. When approaching blind corners, drivers should use emergency flashers and gently honk the horn to warn any approaching vehicle. These small steps help keep everyone safe during the winter in rural areas.

Also Read - Choosing the Best Snow Removal Equipment for Farms

Photo Credit: Pexels-Z Mutaqin

Video: The 15-Year Bet Behind Every New Variety!

Canada is trying to decide how much agricultural research capacity it can afford to lose. Brian Rossnagel believes the better question is whether the country can afford to rebuild it.

The longtime barley and oat breeder makes the case with a simple fact about his profession: the consequences of today’s decisions may not become visible for 10 or 15 years.

“Pick the right parents. That’s the biggest thing,” Rossnagel says. “If you pick the wrong parents, you’re not going to get anywhere—and you don’t know that until 10 years, 15 years later.”

That warning carries particular weight as Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada moves to reduce spending and streamline parts of its science operations. The department’s 2026–27 plan anticipates the loss of approximately 665 positions by 2028–29 and says some research will be reduced where capacity exists in academia or industry. AAFC says the changes will make its science operations more cost-effective over the long term.

For Canada’s seed industry, Rossnagel’s career illustrates what is at stake.

This fall, the retired University of Saskatchewan breeder will be inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame. During his 35-year career at the Crop Development Centre, he helped develop more than 100 barley and oat varieties, including CDC Austenson—one of Western Canada’s most widely grown feed barleys. His induction recognizes not only those varieties, but the collaboration and research system that made them possible.

Rossnagel is quick to emphasize that none of it was the work of one person.

“The first thing I thought about was all the other people who contributed to whatever success I and my program had over the years,” he says. “We know that it’s not an individual who does this. It’s a group—a team.”

That team extends well beyond the breeder whose name appears beside a variety. It includes technicians, pathologists, quality specialists, statisticians, regional testing sites, seed growers and industry partners. It also includes the breeders who came before and those who will carry the germplasm forward.

CDC Fraser barley, for example, moved through three breeding careers. Its parents came from Brian Harvey’s program. Rossnagel advanced the material after Harvey retired, and Aaron Beattie later guided it through registration and release.

That kind of handoff is normal in plant breeding. The person who makes the original cross may never see the resulting variety reach farmers.

It also explains why lost research capacity cannot simply be switched back on when budgets improve.

“If you shut it off, it’s very, very difficult—and particularly costly—to start it up again,” Rossnagel says. “If you have to start from scratch, it’s going to be at least 10 years before anybody notices whether you’re getting anything done or not.”

The concern is not simply how many experimental lines Canada can process. Modern equipment, statistical tools and genetic technologies allow today’s breeding programs to evaluate tens of thousands of lines—far more than Rossnagel could handle when he entered the field in the early 1970s.

But efficiency and automation do not generate every idea.

“If you pare back down, and instead of having six or seven individual scientists concentrating on wheat breeding, you go down and say three people could handle all this, well, that’s half the ideas gone,” he says. “Particularly if you happen to lose the three people who had the really neat and innovative ideas, boy, that’s a problem.”

It is a timely distinction for Canadian agriculture. Consolidating programs may preserve the volume of material moving through a system, at least initially. It may not preserve the diversity of thinking, regional knowledge or willingness to pursue unconventional crosses.

That regional knowledge matters because Canadian agriculture is not one uniform production environment. A variety suited to southern Alberta may face different disease, moisture and maturity pressures than one grown in Manitoba, Ontario or Atlantic Canada.

“Agriculture is applied biology,” Rossnagel says. “Biology, all around the Earth, moves from the poles to the equator. It does not move from Newfoundland to B.C. like politics do.”