Here in the U.S., we say, “Farmers are the backbone of America.” We even call our largest agricultural region the heartland. If farms are our heart and farmers are our backbone, farm roads are the veins that carry society’s lifeblood.
Almost every plant- or animal-based product we consume travels on at least one farm road. When these roads are flooded, rutted, dusty, muddy, or washed out, they’re no good to the farmers—or the families—who depend on them. Passable, all-season farm roads are a necessity.
We’ll explore how good farm roads change communities and why they’re so susceptible to damage. Then, we’ll teach you how to build a farm road that lasts with Perma-Zyme.
As a farmer, you know how much your roads matter to you. They get you to the fields to plant, spray, and harvest. They’re the way you check on your livestock. They’re how trucks and trailers arrive to carry your products to market.
But farm roads play an even bigger global role.
Consider this: in 2003, about half of farmers in Burkina Faso couldn’t take their products to market due to the high risk of transportation accidents, and 65% grew fewer crops than they wanted because of limited road access.1,2 So, they worked with nonprofits and local authorities to improve roads. By 2021, cultivated land increased by 50%, farmers had more opportunities to bring goods to market, and the national hunger index fell by nearly half.3,4
In the U.S., 44 million people struggle with hunger, and nine in 10 highly food-insecure counties are rural—even though rural communities farm the most.5,6 By improving farm roads to make transporting agricultural goods easier and cheaper, you can play a role in reducing hunger in your community.
Washboarding, potholes, dust, poor drainage, and more unpaved farm road problems significantly increase farmers’ risk of accidents. To overcome these problems, it’s good to know what causes them.
A combination of factors makes farm roads tough to maintain. Five common ones are:
Whether it’s loaded grain wagons, a 1,600-gallon sprayer, a 20-ton combine, or a tractor-trailer full of market steers, farm roads take the brunt of enormous farm machinery and trucks day in and day out—especially during planting and harvest.
Heavy traffic breaks down soil particles, increasing dust during the dry season. During the wet season, it presses into soft, unpaved roads, creating ruts and potholes. The weight can also work gravel into the soil, so even if you graveled your farm road to improve the surface, it won’t last long.
The rich soil that grows crops and grazing grass also makes unpaved roads difficult to maintain. Organic clays and nutrient-packed silts have tiny particles that are susceptible to dust and erosion. Building a road on expansive clay is even more challenging since the soil shifts during and after construction.
Farming is a uniquely seasonal industry. Whether you live in a climate with four distinct seasons or experience wet-and-dry weather cycles, each season erodes farm roads uniquely. A big spring rainstorm can wash away gravel, summer heat can break down the road’s surface, and the freeze-thaw cycle can create ruts, potholes, and frost heaves.
Another issue farmers face is finding soil stabilizers that will work to build a road on their property without harming crops or livestock.
As we mentioned, gravel is short-lived and requires constant regrading and maintenance costs. Many dust suppressants are not eco-friendly, need to be reapplied several times a year, require special equipment to apply, or damage equipment.
Chlorides are another common soil stabilizer and dust suppressant, but many people have environmental concerns about using them for agriculture. Since they’re a type of salt, chlorides can build up in soil and water, making them toxic. They also don’t last long, so reapplication costs add up. Many farmers try to find alternatives to chlorides.
While local, state, or national governments maintain public farm-to-market roads, farmers often maintain dozens (or hundreds) of miles of private farm roads on their properties. Requesting grants or subsidies to maintain these roads can take a long time.
Plus, farmers are busy! It's hard to maintain roads when you’re moving cattle, harvesting crops, fixing fences, repairing machinery, or all the other work farmers do. The best solution is to build a road on your property that will last with little to no maintenance.
An effective, practical solution for farmers is using an enzymatic soil stabilizer, like Perma-Zyme. Perma-Zyme’s unique enzyme formula bonds soil particles together to create a hard, concrete-like surface that resists erosion. So, it has huge advantages for agriculture, like:
Let’s go over how to build a road on your property with Perma-Zyme.
Applying Perma-Zyme to your farm roads is simple. Here’s how to do it:
Once you finish construction, it's important to let the road cure for 72 hours with no rain and temperatures between 40°F and 115°F. Close the road, or limit traffic to light vehicles at slow speeds—no heavy trucks or equipment.
When applying Perma-Zyme, we typically recommend using a non-potable water truck, motor grader, padfoot compactor, and a smooth wheel compactor. If you have those things, great! If not, don’t worry. You can still successfully apply Perma-Zyme.
To help farmers build low-cost roads, we designed our formula to work with equipment that’s readily available. You can make these equipment substitutions:
There’s no true substitute for a smooth wheel compactor; however, if you do not have access to one, you can still use the wheelpacking method. Choose a vehicle with fairly smooth tire tread and add as much weight as you safely can to mimic the compactor as closely as possible. Then, drive slowly back and forth over the road to tamp it down.
NOTE: Be aware that using only wheelpacking may not produce as strong of a surface as using compactors.
Perma-Zyme is all-natural and safe to use around livestock. Some of its benefits include:
So, Perma-Zyme can be a good solution for livestock. However, there are some special considerations:
Generally, we recommend using Perma-Zyme for key areas that get muddy, dusty, or difficult to deal with—such as arenas, round pens, temporary holding pens, chutes, paths, gate areas, hay storage areas, or feeding and watering areas. You can also use it for farm pond linings.
Good quality farm roads are essential for bringing food and goods to communities. Since farm roads are highly prone to damage and since many soil stabilizers are unsafe or ineffective for agricultural use, more farmers are turning to Perma-Zyme.
Perma-Zyme helps you build unpaved farm roads that can last over five years with little to no maintenance—so you don’t have to worry about ruts, wash-outs, potholes, or other erosion. It’s easy to apply with the equipment you have on hand. And since it’s 100% natural and organic, Perma-Zyme is safe for your crops and livestock as well.
