Luke Bryan Jokes He's a Better Farmer Than Blake Shelton: 'He's Pretend Farming'

Blake shelton, Luke Bryan
Blake shelton, Luke Bryan
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Trae Patton/NBCU Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton

It's a battle of the country music stars!

In honor of Earth Day on Friday, Luke Bryan joined Ty Bentli on Apple Music Country's The Ty Bentli Show to discuss his upbringing in Georgia, his annual Farm tour and why Bryan's agricultural skills are superior to those of Blake Shelton — and PEOPLE got an exclusive first listen!

At one point, Bentli addresses the ongoing field feud between Bryan, 45, and Shelton, 45, who each believe themselves to be the better farmer.

"He's pretend farming," the "Drink a Beer" singer says of Shelton, as the host asks what The Voice coach does "down there" on his Oklahoma ranch.

"I mean, he's just putting out like wild grasses — stuff that literally will grow on Mars," Bryan says. "I'm actually planting stuff that human beings can enjoy. I'm not feeding a bunch of rabbits and moles and stuff. Blake's farming earthworms and stuff."

Luke Bryan
Luke Bryan

John Shearer/2021 CMT Awards/Getty Luke Bryan

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Bryan had an unexpectedly plentiful harvest from his own Tennessee fields in 2020 — "Little tip for you guys — never get bored during a pandemic and plant four acres of sweet corn," he joked in an Instagram video that went viral at the time — and told Bentli it brought him back to long days working at his father's peanut mill in Georgia in his early 20s.

"It was literally 15-hour days, breathing dust. It's crazy because at the time, I mean, I'm 24, 25 years old, and I remember physically feeling like I had been in a gang fight, played a football game. That's how hard we were working. It was 24/7 and just working constantly during peanut season," he recalls.

"I was still gigging. I was still playing concerts Fridays and Saturday nights. I'd be in the damn peanut mill on a Thursday, and God, I'd have to go drive through the night and sing college shows with peanut dust all in my lungs. It was a wonder. I probably sounded pretty awful back then!"

With his touring career on hold due to the pandemic, Bryan decided to see if he still had what it takes.

"The video of me planting all that sweet corn ... I was so bored and didn't have anything to do. I went and bought a planter, I bought a garden tractor, I bought a harrow disc. And I just went to town on this one field and planted like five acres of sweet corn," he says.

"I call my dad, and I'm like, 'Daddy, we're planting corn.' He goes, 'Ain't that something? You moved to Nashville to get away from this, and now 15, 18 years later, you're back to planting corn.' "

Aside from practicing old skills, getting back into it meant Bryan — who hosts an annual Farm Tour at local sites — had the opportunity to show his friends what he can really do.

"The main thing of what was fun about it was ... I've been so busy. I've got some buddies in my world. They're trying to do a garden, or they're ... I'm like, 'Buddy, that field looks horrible. You don't have it right.' And they're like, 'Well, you get out there and make it look better.' And I'm like, 'Well, I don't have time. I got to go do all this.' So finally I had time. When I got done getting this field ready to plant, I was like, 'Boys, behold. That's what perfection looks like.' "

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The full episode will be available on Friday at 8 a.m. ET on Apple Music Country and is part of Apple Music's programming celebrating Earth Day.

In February, the country singer spoke to PEOPLE about his ongoing Las Vegas residency, tour dates kicking off in June and striving for balance at home.

"It's just having a nice balance," Bryan said at the time. "I can get out there and have fun with my band and my crew and keep everybody working and play the new music. Seeing how the fans react to it and always having them on the road inspires the whole process for me. It makes me wanna write the songs for the next album. That's what makes this whole thing so exciting, and it still is. That never goes away."