What was the main crop during the antebellum period?

In the antebellum era—that is, in the years before the Civil War—American planters in the South continued to grow Chesapeake tobacco and Carolina rice as they had in the colonial era. Cotton, however, emerged as the antebellum South’s major commercial crop, eclipsing tobacco, rice, and sugar in economic importance.

What crop was most important to antebellum slavery?

Cotton was by far the leading cash crop, but slaves also raised rice, corn, sugarcane, and tobacco. Many plantations raised several different kinds of crops.

What crops were grown in the antebellum South?

On his plantation, these enslaved persons produced tobacco, wheat, oats, corn, and potatoes; raised hogs; and kept a dairy herd of eleven cows. White’s plantation also had an extensive garden for his family, as well as gardens for his slaves.

What was the biggest crop during slavery?

Tobacco became an important plantation crop in North America in the 16th century. A Dutch trader brought the first 20 African slaves in 1619 and many more followed as the Dutch were more than willing to trade slaves for tobacco that they could profitably sell in Europe.

What kind of farming did slaves do?

Most favoured by slave owners were commercial crops such as olives, grapes, sugar, cotton, tobacco, coffee, and certain forms of rice that demanded intense labour to plant, considerable tending throughout the growing season, and significant labour for harvesting.

What is mixed crop and livestock?

Mixed crop-livestock systems, combining livestock and cash crops at farm level, are considered to be a good way to achieve sustainable intensification of agricultural systems.

What crops did slaves grow?

What was agriculture like in the South?

The South has always been a region dominated by agriculture. Long ago, farmers relied upon mule-pulled plows to turn acres of soil, so that crops like tobacco, cotton, and corn could be grown. Farming was a way of life, supporting families with both food and money.

Did slaves grow their own food?

Provision grounds were areas of land often of poor quality, mountainous or stony, and often at some distance from the villages which plantation owners set aside for the enslaved Africans to grow their own food, such as sweet potatoes, yams and plantains.

What crops were slaves used for?

Why do farmers practice mixed farming?

Mixed farming systems provide farmers with an opportunity to diversify risk from single crop production, to use labour more efficiently, to have a source of cash for purchasing farm inputs and to add value to crops or crop by-products.