Hedgerows and Windbreaks for Small Farms

On a small farm the wind costs more than most owners count: dry soil, lambs and calves lost in cold snaps, bruised fruit, and topsoil blown off bare fields. The one idea that matters most is that a windbreak or hedgerow protects in proportion to its height and length, and only works when it is planted without gaps, at right angles to the wind that does the damage.

This page covers designing and planting hedgerows and windbreaks on a small farm or hobby farm: what they do, the design rules the agencies publish, species and layers, planting and protecting them, and where to find help. It draws on the agencies named below and on HortOS, a free directory of Canadian wholesale plant growers with their published availability and trade prices.

Quick facts

Height sets reach	The taller the belt, the further the shelter reaches downwind, commonly ten to fifteen times its height.
Length and gaps	A belt needs to be long and unbroken. Wind funnels through gaps and speeds up.
Porosity	A belt that filters the wind shelters a larger area than a solid wall. Aim for a little under half the wind passing through.
Layers	Tall trees, medium trees and shrubs together make a belt dense from the ground up.
Protect while young	Fence out stock, guard against browsing, and control weeds for the first years.
Where the growers are	Growers listing shelter species are on the province hubs: Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia.

What windbreaks and hedgerows do

A windbreak slows the wind. Behind it soil keeps its moisture, crops and pasture grow faster, stock lose less energy keeping warm, and fruit and flowers are less damaged. A hedgerow is a lower, denser line of mixed shrubs and small trees along a fence or field edge, which does the same on a smaller scale and adds food and cover for birds and insects that work the crops.

Both are long-lived. A belt planted this year shapes the farm for decades, so the design is worth getting right on paper before a single tree is ordered.

Shelter does more than slow the wind. A belt along a boundary screens sheds and yards from the road, holds dust and spray drift back from the house and the neighbours, and gives stock somewhere to stand out of the weather.

Planning a hedgerow

A hedgerow suits the small farm where a full shelterbelt would take too much ground. A double row of mixed shrubs and small trees along a fence, planted close and staggered, makes a dense line within a few years. Choose species that flower and fruit at different times, so the hedgerow feeds birds and insects through the year, and include some with dense or thorny twigs where stock or wind press hardest.

Plan the hedgerow's width at maturity, not at planting. Shrubs that will spread wide need that room clear of the fence, the track and the neighbour's boundary, with a strip left at the base for getting to the fence for repairs.

The design rules

The Upper Thames River Conservation Authority says field windbreaks are usually one or two rows at right angles to the prevailing wind, and that they protect topsoil from wind erosion for 10 to 15 times the height of the trees. It suggests about 40 per cent porosity for a field windbreak, and three or more rows for a farmstead shelterbelt.

Choose species adapted to the soil and climate, consider their mature height, crown and root spread, and avoid species toxic to livestock, such as red maple, beside pasture, the conservation authority advises. Seedlings cost less than large stock but take longer to make an effective windbreak.

Species and layers

Most belts combine three layers. A row of the tallest suitable trees gives height. A row of medium trees or large shrubs fills the middle, and a row of dense shrubs closes the base where wind would otherwise run under the canopy. Mixing species spreads the risk of losing a whole belt to one pest or one drought, and native species suited to the district usually establish best. Where prairie farmers order shelterbelt trees covers the prairie programs.

The table lists shelter and hedgerow species of the kind small farms plant, with how many growers listed each on HortOS on 25 October 2026. It shows which species are easy to buy in numbers, not which suit a farm. Counts are the nurseries each plant's page on HortOS showed as growing it on 25 October 2026. Median trade prices are not published for Canada yet.

Of the species in the table, white spruce (Picea glauca) had the most nurseries growing it, 38, and silver buffaloberry (Shepherdia argentea) the fewest of those shown, 9. For a long belt, a species many growers list is easier to buy in the numbers needed and to replace.

Planting and protecting a belt

• Prepare the line. Rip or cultivate the planting line and control weeds for a season before planting.
• Plant small, into moist soil. Seedlings, plugs and #1 containers are cheap enough to plant in the numbers a long belt needs, and establish well in moist soil.
• Fence it. Stock browse and trample young shelter. Fence the belt on both sides with room for the mature width.
• Guard and mulch. Guards protect against browsing animals and wind, and mulch or a weed mat holds moisture.
• Weed for three years. Weeds take the water young trees need. Control them until the belt shades them out.

As the belt matures

A belt changes as it grows. Remove guards once the plants are well above them and the stems are strong, so the guards do not constrict the trunks. Replace losses in the first few years before the gaps become permanent. Where the lower branches of the tallest row lift and let wind run under the canopy, the shrub row closes the gap, which is why most designs keep one. A belt planted with several species ages unevenly, so it can be renewed a section at a time rather than all at once.

Help and funding

In its watershed, the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority funds 80 per cent of seedling windbreaks and 50 per cent of large stock plantings, to a maximum of $6,000. A project needs at least 300 seedlings or 50 large stock trees. Farm payments for shelterbelts, buffers and wetlands sets out schemes across Canada.

What to watch for

• Gaps and gateways. A gap speeds the wind. Angle gateways or overlap belt ends.
• A solid wall. A belt so dense no wind passes through creates turbulence behind it. Aim to filter the wind.
• One species. A belt of one species can be lost to one pest or drought. Mix species and layers.
• No fence. Stock destroy an unfenced young belt within a season.
• Shade on the wrong side. A tall belt shades the field beside it. Site it so shade falls where it does least harm.

Getting it right

1. Map the damaging winds, the fields and the stock, and decide what the belt must protect.
2. Set the belt at right angles to the damaging wind, long and unbroken, with angled gateways.
3. Choose tall trees, medium trees and shrubs suited to the district, with several species in each layer.
4. Prepare the line, fence it and plan guards before ordering the plants.
5. Order the seedlings and small pots a season ahead, and plant in spring or early fall.
6. Control weeds and check guards for three years, and replace losses from the species that thrived.

A word of caution

The design figures on this page are the agencies' named here, for their own conditions, and a local adviser should check a design against the farm's soils and winds. The counts are what HortOS printed on 25 October 2026, and the live pages change as growers update their lists.

Sources

• Upper Thames River Conservation Authority, Windbreaks and Shelterbelts: windbreak height, porosity and species.
• Upper Thames River Conservation Authority, Shelterbelt and Windbreaks funding: funding rates and planting minimums.
• Agroforestry and Woodlot Extension Society of Alberta, Shelterbelt and Ecobuffer Project: shelterbelts and ecobuffers in Alberta.
• Canadian Food Inspection Agency, directive D-04-01, Canadian Nursery Certification Program: certification and plant movement.