The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) has begun its annual recruiting for the Standing Corn Rows program, which encourages farmers to leave standing corn rows along highways during harvest to prevent blowing snow the following winter.

Participating farmers not only improve road safety, but also receive compensation for their efforts. Average payment to the landowner is about $1,000 per acre for a winter season of blowing snow control protection.

Farmers who are interested in enrolling in the program first need to check if their site is eligible by contacting a local coordinator (More information here). MnDOT has already identified more than 3,700 annual snow problem sites.

If a stretch of highway is affected, MnDOT said each “snow fence” can be designed and constructed to fit into individual land use and farming operations along the highway. A farmer may need to work with their coordinator to ensure the standing corn rows are close enough to the highway to prevent blowing snow. At times, farmers may need to plant a couple more rows of corn, which is why outreach begins prior to or during planting.

A typical standing corn row treatment is about a quarter-mile long and one acre in size, with 12 rows of corn left standing. Corn snow fences also need to be hand picked. MnDOT is happy to organize volunteers to help participating farmers hand harvest the corn, which you can learn more about here.

According to MnDOT Snow Control Program Coordinator Dan Gullickson, the program has been a great success in making highways safer during snowfalls. One example he cites is Highway 169 south of the Twin Cities, which was lined with 4.5 miles of standing corn last winter.

“Drifting in this area has gone down to almost zero, thanks to these local land owners,” said Gullickson in a MnDOT release. “We thank the local farmers who helped MnDOT’s snow control efforts by leaving standing corn rows along the highway.”

To learn more about the Living Snow Fence program, visit here.