Civil Eats

DECEMBER 10, 2024

When the owner of the land where Byron was sharecropping died, he willed Byron at least 10 acres. With tobacco as his principal cash crop, Arthur needed to purchase fertilizer before December and prepare the land for planting by February or March. It really is modern-day sharecropping. The delays in payment could be devastating.

Plantation 144

Plantation Farming Farming Acre 144

Food Environment and Reporting Network

DECEMBER 20, 2024

Theyre as fertile as can be. The soybeans and corn are processed into animal feed and ethanol, mostly outside the region; the cotton is exported to textile mills in Asia. They till less, plant cover crops after harvest, and have drastically cut their use of fertilizer and insecticides. Grocery stores are scarce. In 1949, U.D.

Acre 89

Acre Farming Farming Crop 89

Food Environment and Reporting Network

DECEMBER 31, 2024

It wasn’t much, but they had only to cross the river to hunt wild game, gather native fruits, and harvest natural dyes for pottery and textiles they sold in local markets. Melka had sought to bring another 12,000 acres into cultivation through this sharecropping strategy. Now, those forests were being cleared.

Plantation 120

Plantation Acre Cultivation Crop 120