Farmers Report How Much Time It Takes to Plant Their Corn Crop

May 07, 2019

If, and it's a big if, weather cooperates farmers can plant corn and soybeans at breakneck speeds, according to a recent Farm Journal Pulse poll. We asked farmers how long it takes to plant their crops in perfect conditions and 42% said they could do it in under 10 days.

Here's the breakdown of answers:

One to four days: 8%

Five to nine days: 34%

10 or more days: 58%

These results come in contrast to recent reports that suggest it would take two weeks to plant all of the corn and two weeks to plant all of the soybean acres in the U.S. That report takes into account growers of all sizes includes those with a large number of acres, growers with smaller, slower equipment and your 'average' farmer.

"I've been tracking corn planting progress for the past five years," says Mark Licht, Iowa State University Extension agronomist. "I use prospective plating to get acres and suitable days and calculate how many acres can be planted per day. For corn, it peaks between 1 and 1.25 million acres per day-that means just over 13 days to get planted."

It's the same for soybeans-about 14 days to fully planted. Interestingly enough, this number hasn't changed in more than 30 years.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.