Snowmobile tracks have begun to criss-cross rural Manitoba, but it's important those tracks don't cross winter cereal fields.

Winter Cereals Canada executive director Jake Davidson says the concern with this is snow compaction, as the layer over snow overtop of the soil is important to insulate the crown of the wintering plants from cold temperatures.

"When a snowmobile drives over, it flattens the snow down and loses that value of insulation from the snow, and the colder temperatures penetrate down into that first layer of soil, and there we get our winter kill," he says.

Davidson says the deeper the snow, the less concern there is, but snowmobilers should still check before they create a path through a field. He says snowmobilers should look out for signs indicating if the field has a winter cereal sown into it and get permission before cutting across private property.