long row to hoe

“It’s been a long row to hoe and it’s not over yet.”

It is perfectly true that the novelist has a fearful long row to hoe to get into any practical relation to the grovelling stage, and his difficulty is precisely double: it bears, on one side, upon the question of method and, on the other, upon the question of subject.

She wants me fer home consumption, Let alone the hay's to mow,— Ef you're arter folks o' gumption, You've a darned long row to hoe.

Row, a long row to hoe, a difficult task.

It’s a rare spot of encouragement for a struggling campaign, but Huntsman still has a long row to hoe.