RURAL ECONOMY

NEW SOUTH

• Southerners wanted to change agriculture in the south.
• They wanted smaller farms instead of huge plantations
• Some of these plantations were broken up
• The extra land went to share cropping and tenant farming
• These were not profitable.

DEBT

• Debt caused problems. Poor farmers used credit to buy supplies.
• Merchants who sold on credit charged high prices and debts rose
• Farmers would grow cash crops to repay debts
• They grew cotton, causing more problems.

COTTON PRICES GO DOWN

• The main crop in the south used to be cotton
• However, too much cotton caused prices to go down.
• Farmers the tried to grow even more cotton
• The south relied too much on cotton

Cotton crops

Farmers were sinking in debt

QUIZ

• What did people want to change about agriculture in the south
• What was the main cash crop southerners grew
• What did farmers do after cotton prices decreased
• True or false: share cropping helped farmers keep up income