A farmer can make more than 775 decisions that affect a single corn crop. From soil fertility and hybrid selection to planting speed, crop insurance, grain marketing, equipment purchases, and succession planning, modern farming requires hundreds of interconnected decisions every year.
You see a cornfield.
A farmer sees hundreds of decisions.
To someone driving past an Iowa cornfield, growing corn may appear relatively straightforward: plant it in the spring, manage it during the summer, and harvest it in the fall.
The reality is much different.
Behind every acre are decisions involving agronomy, machinery, weather, labor, finance, risk management, marketing, land, and the long-term future of the farm.
And after all those decisions are made, Mother Nature still gets a vote.
How Many Decisions Does a Farmer Make to Grow Corn?
There is no single official number because every farm, field, and growing season is different. However, when individual management decisions and their related sub-decisions are considered, a corn farmer can easily face 775 or more decisions during a crop year.
Some are planned months in advance.
Others must be made in minutes.
A decision made during planting may influence what happens at harvest. A fertilizer decision can affect yield potential and profitability. A machinery purchase can influence planting timeliness for years. A grain marketing decision can determine whether a high-yielding crop actually produces a profit.
Here are some of the major areas where those decisions occur.
Field and Cropping System Decisions
The process starts before seed enters the planter.
Farmers determine which fields will grow corn, whether to plant corn after corn or rotate with soybeans, how to manage crop residue, whether to use cover crops, and how to handle marginal acres.
Decisions can include:
- Crop rotation
- Field selection
- Cover crops
- Residue management
- Manure use
- Field traffic
- Headland management
- Marginal-acre management
- Conservation practices
Each field may require a different strategy based on its soils, drainage, productivity, history, and location.
Soil Testing and Fertility Decisions
A farmer needs to determine what nutrients the crop needs and how those nutrients should be supplied.
That starts with soil testing.
Farmers may decide how frequently to sample, whether to use grid or zone sampling, what sampling depth to use, and whether additional testing is necessary.
Then come fertility decisions involving:
- Soil pH
- Lime
- Phosphorus
- Potassium
- Sulfur
- Zinc and other micronutrients
- Manure credits
- Previous-crop credits
- Variable-rate applications
- Biological products
- Foliar nutrition
- Yield goals
Even something that sounds simple—such as applying phosphorus—creates additional decisions about the source, rate, timing, placement, and whether the application should vary across the field.
Nitrogen Management Decisions
Nitrogen management alone can involve dozens of decisions.
Farmers must determine the total nitrogen rate while considering yield expectations, fertilizer prices, corn prices, soil characteristics, previous crops, manure applications, and weather.
Then they must decide how to apply it.
Questions include:
- Fall or spring?
- Anhydrous, UAN, urea, or manure?
- Preplant or sidedress?
- One application or split applications?
- Should a nitrogen stabilizer be used?
- Should the rate vary across the field?
- Has heavy rainfall caused nitrogen loss?
- Is supplemental nitrogen necessary?
The correct answer can change from one year—or even one field—to another.
Manure Management Decisions
For farms with access to livestock manure, another group of management decisions emerges.
Farmers have to consider manure analysis, nutrient credits, application rates, timing, incorporation, application depth, soil conditions, equipment, and compaction.
Manure can provide valuable nutrients, but those nutrients still have to be incorporated into the farm’s overall fertility strategy.
Soil Compaction Decisions
Some of the most important decisions farmers make involve knowing when not to enter a field.
Heavy equipment operating in wet conditions can create compaction that affects crop performance beyond a single season.
Farmers consider:
- Soil moisture
- Axle loads
- Tractor and combine weight
- Grain-cart size
- Manure-tanker weight
- Tire pressure
- Tracks versus tires
- Number of field passes
- Traffic patterns
- Headland traffic
- Whether deep tillage is justified
Sometimes waiting is the best agronomic decision, even when there is pressure to get fieldwork completed.
Drainage and Water Management Decisions
Water can be one of the biggest limitations to crop production.
Farmers evaluate tile drainage, tile spacing, tile depth, outlets, surface drainage, waterways, terraces, ponding areas, and existing drainage systems.
Where irrigation is available, farmers face another set of decisions involving timing, frequency, application amounts, soil moisture, pollination, and grain fill.
Managing too much—or too little—water can make a major difference in crop performance.
Tillage and Seedbed Decisions
Before planting, farmers must determine how the seedbed will be prepared.
That may mean:
- No-till
- Strip-till
- Minimum tillage
- Conventional tillage
- Fall tillage
- Spring tillage
- Vertical tillage
- Deep ripping
Then come decisions involving tillage depth, speed, soil moisture, residue, number of passes, erosion risk, and moisture conservation.
The objective isn’t simply to make the field look good. It is to create conditions that give the crop the best opportunity to establish itself.
Corn Hybrid Selection Decisions
Choosing seed isn’t simply choosing a brand.
Farmers evaluate hybrids based on numerous characteristics, including:
- Relative maturity
- Yield potential
- Yield stability
- Emergence
- Seedling vigor
- Root strength
- Stalk strength
- Drydown
- Drought tolerance
- Disease tolerance
- Insect traits
- Herbicide traits
- Population response
- Soil type
- Planting date
- Expected harvest timing
A farmer may plant several hybrids across an operation to spread agronomic and weather risks.
Even after hybrids are selected, decisions remain about seed treatments, seed size, ordering, discounts, replant policies, storage, and handling.
Planting Date Decisions
One of the biggest decisions of the season can be deciding when to start planting.
The calendar matters, but so do:
- Soil temperature
- Soil moisture
- Field conditions
- Rain forecasts
- Cold forecasts
- Frost risk
- Hybrid maturity
- Field location
Farmers frequently face imperfect choices.
Do you plant ahead of an approaching rain?
Do you wait for warmer soil?
Which field goes first?
At what point do you switch to a shorter-season hybrid?
There isn’t always an obvious answer.
Planter Setup and Planting Decisions
Modern planters are sophisticated pieces of equipment requiring significant setup and management.
Before planting begins, farmers may check meters, seed discs, vacuum settings, downforce systems, row cleaners, opener discs, closing wheels, seed tubes, sensors, hydraulics, fertilizer systems, and numerous other components.
Once the planter enters the field, another set of decisions begins.
Farmers monitor:
- Population
- Planting depth
- Speed
- Seed spacing
- Singulation
- Downforce
- Furrow closure
- Seed-to-soil contact
- Residue
- GPS accuracy
- Row shutoffs
- Overlap
- Field conditions
A planter may be technologically advanced, but someone still has to decide how to operate it.
Emergence and Replant Decisions
Planting doesn’t guarantee a successful stand.
After emergence, farmers evaluate population, uniformity, late-emerging plants, crusting, ponding, seedling disease, insect damage, and planter-related problems.
If the stand is poor, they face one of farming’s most difficult questions:
Do we keep it or replant it?
That decision requires comparing the yield potential of the existing crop against the expected yield of a later-planted replacement crop while also considering seed costs, insurance provisions, herbicide restrictions, and weather.
Weed, Insect, and Disease Management Decisions
Crop protection is another enormous category.
For weed control, farmers consider herbicides, rates, timing, modes of action, resistant weeds, water quality, nozzles, pressure, wind, temperature, humidity, drift potential, crop stage, and weed size.
Insects require scouting, identification, treatment thresholds, product selection, timing, and resistance management.
Disease management introduces still more decisions.
Farmers may scout for tar spot, gray leaf spot, northern corn leaf blight, southern rust, stalk rots, ear rots, and other diseases.
Then comes another question:
Does applying a fungicide make economic sense?
That depends on disease pressure, hybrid susceptibility, weather, yield potential, commodity prices, product costs, and application costs.
Midseason and Pollination Decisions
By summer, many major investments have already been made—but management isn’t finished.
Farmers continue monitoring:
- Nitrogen deficiencies
- Sulfur deficiencies
- Weed escapes
- Insects
- Diseases
- Root development
- Pollination
- Drought stress
- Stalk quality
- Ear development
- Kernel fill
They may also conduct tissue tests, soil nitrate tests, yield estimates, or supplemental nutrient applications.
Information collected during this period can influence both the current crop and decisions for future seasons.
Weather Response Decisions
Weather may be uncontrollable, but farmers still have to decide how to respond to it.
Heavy rain can create nitrogen-loss questions.
Hail can create crop-insurance questions.
Wind can change harvest priorities.
Flooding may lead to replant decisions.
Drought may influence irrigation, fertility, marketing, and insurance decisions.
Farmers constantly adjust their plans in response to conditions they cannot control.
Harvest Decisions
Eventually, the focus turns toward getting the crop out of the field.
But when should harvest start?
Farmers have to balance:
- Grain moisture
- Drying costs
- Field losses
- Stalk quality
- Lodging
- Ear drop
- Disease
- Weather
- Storage capacity
- Elevator availability
- Grain prices
Waiting can reduce drying costs but increase field-loss risk.
Starting early can protect yield but increase drying expenses.
Once again, there isn’t always one correct answer.
Combine and Harvest-Loss Decisions
A combine doesn’t simply enter a field and harvest corn perfectly.
Operators continually adjust equipment based on crop and field conditions.
Settings involving deck plates, gathering chains, rotor or cylinder speed, concaves, fan speed, sieves, chaffers, header height, and ground speed can influence harvest losses and grain quality.
Farmers also need to determine whether losses are occurring at the corn head, separator, or cleaning system.
Small losses per acre can become significant when multiplied across an entire operation.
Grain Handling and Storage Decisions
Once corn leaves the combine, it still has to be managed.
Farmers decide how to dry, cool, aerate, monitor, store, and eventually move the grain.
Decisions include:
- Dryer temperature
- Target moisture
- Drying speed
- Aeration
- Storage temperature
- Moisture monitoring
- Insect monitoring
- Mold prevention
- Fines management
- Grain quality
Growing the crop is only part of the job. Preserving its value after harvest matters too.
Grain Marketing Decisions
A farmer can grow an excellent crop and still struggle financially if it is marketed poorly.
Grain marketing creates dozens of additional decisions.
Farmers consider whether to sell before planting, during the growing season, at harvest, or after harvest.
They evaluate:
- Forward contracts
- Hedge-to-arrive contracts
- Futures
- Options
- Basis contracts
- Storage
- Market carry
- Cash-flow needs
- Transportation
- Delivery locations
- Drying and storage charges
- Crop insurance
- Profit margins
Even futures and basis can be separate decisions.
Should futures be locked today while basis remains open?
Should grain be stored?
Is hauling farther for a stronger bid worthwhile?
The goal isn’t necessarily to sell at the highest price of the year. The goal is to consistently make profitable marketing decisions while managing risk.
Equipment Purchase and Technology Decisions
Modern farming is capital intensive.
Farmers continually decide whether to repair, replace, lease, purchase, finance, or custom hire.
Equipment decisions can involve tractors, planters, combines, grain carts, trucks, sprayers, grain dryers, bins, GPS systems, yield monitors, drones, sensors, and farm-management software.
Technology creates opportunities, but every upgrade raises another question:
Will this investment generate enough return to justify its cost?
Labor and People Decisions
Someone has to perform the work.
Farmers determine who plants, sprays, harvests, hauls grain, repairs equipment, markets grain, and makes management decisions.
They also manage training, wages, safety, fatigue, seasonal labor, custom operators, and scheduling.
During critical planting and harvest windows, labor availability can directly affect crop performance.
Financial and Risk-Management Decisions
Behind nearly every agronomic decision is a financial decision.
Farmers manage:
- Operating loans
- Interest rates
- Working capital
- Input financing
- Equipment financing
- Land financing
- Cost of production
- Break-even prices
- Break-even yields
- Cash reserves
- Debt service
- Capital expenditures
Crop insurance adds another layer.
Farmers decide on coverage levels, unit structures, supplemental coverage, hail protection, replant provisions, prevented planting, and other risk-management options.
They aren’t simply trying to maximize yield.
They are trying to produce a profitable crop while managing financial risk.
Farmland and Rental Decisions
The land itself creates long-term strategic decisions.
Should the operation buy another farm?
Rent more acres?
Give up an unprofitable rented farm?
Install tile on rented ground?
Accept higher rent?
Expand farther away from the home operation?
Buying or renting additional acres may increase revenue potential, but it can also stretch planting capacity, harvest capacity, labor, equipment, and working capital.
Growth has consequences.
Farm Succession and Generational Decisions
Some of the biggest farm decisions have very little to do with this year’s crop.
Farm families eventually have to determine:
- Who will operate the farm next?
- When should the next generation enter?
- When should management authority transfer?
- How should farmland ownership transfer?
- How should machinery transfer?
- How should farming and non-farming heirs be treated?
- Should farmland remain together?
- Should debt be reduced before transition?
- When should the older generation retire?
- What does the family want the farm to look like 20 or 30 years from now?
These decisions can affect generations.
A crop lasts one season.
A farm’s legacy can last much longer.
Farming Is Both a Crop and a Business
Perhaps the biggest misconception about farming is that the farmer’s primary job is simply growing crops.
Modern farmers are simultaneously agronomists, machinery managers, financial managers, grain marketers, employers, risk managers, land managers, and business owners.
They have to decide whether to grow acreage or improve existing acres, buy land or rent it, purchase machinery or custom hire, build grain storage or sell at harvest, expand geographically or concentrate closer to home, take on additional debt or build working capital.
Each decision interacts with another.
Buying more land may require more equipment.
More equipment may require more debt.
More acres may require additional labor.
Additional acres may delay planting.
Delayed planting can influence yield.
Yield influences revenue.
Revenue affects the ability to service debt and purchase the next farm.
That is why farming can’t be reduced to a single decision—or even a handful of decisions.
What Does a Modern Farmer Actually Do?
A modern farmer manages an interconnected agricultural business where hundreds of agronomic, operational, financial, and strategic decisions can influence the outcome of a single growing season.
Some decisions may add a few bushels.
Others may save a few dollars per acre.
Some protect the operation from catastrophic risk.
And a handful may determine what happens to the farm for the next generation.
So the next time you drive past a cornfield, remember:
You see a cornfield.
A farmer sees 775+ decisions.
And after making every one of them, planning for every scenario possible, and putting another year’s income and capital into the ground…
Mother Nature still gets a vote.
