cash crop

Examples of cash crop in the following topics:

• Slavery in the Rice Kingdom

  • Wealthy planters cultivated rice and other cash crops along the southeastern coast, while backwoods subsistence farmers were pushed out to the Appalachian Mountains and backcountry in the later part of the 18th century.
  • The principle cash crop harvested by the South Carolina slave population in the early 18th century was rice, a crop which probably originated in Madagascar and had been introduced into South Carolina in 1694.
  • Once rice was established as the principle cash crop of South Carolina, it brought unprecedented wealth and prosperity to planters and the region.

• Slavery in the North

  • Unlike in the South, northern farms were not large-scale enterprises that focused on producing a single cash crop; instead they were often smaller, more agriculturally diversified enterprises that required fewer laborers.
  • Northern industry and commerce relied on southern cash crop production; therefore, while slavery was actively abolished in the North, most northerners were content to allow slavery to flourish in the southern states.

• The Economy Under the Ming Dynasty

  • The Columbian exchange brought crops such as corn with these foreign crops.
  • During the Ming, specialized areas also popped up planting large numbers of cash crops that could be sold at markets.
  • Ming agriculture was much changed from the earlier areas; firstly, gigantic areas, devoting and specializing in cash crops, sprung up to demand from the new market economy.
  • Besides rice, other crops were grown on a large scale.
  • During the Ming dynasty, the increase in population and the decrease in quality land made it necessary that farmers make a living off cash crops.

• Lenski's Synthesis

  • People who farm for subsistence often have no surplus goods—they consume all of the crops they produce.
  • By contrast, cash crop farmers produce crops that fetch a high price on the market, such as grain and corn, and sell them rather than consuming them.
  • The crops they produce are surplus goods, traded for economic gain.

• Toward Free Labor

  • In colonial North America, farmers, planters, and shopkeepers found it very difficult to hire free workers, primarily because cash was short and it was so easy for those workers to set up their own farms.
  • The labor-intensive cash crop of tobacco was farmed in the American South by indentured laborers in the 17th and 18th centuries.
  • In the Upper South, where tobacco was the main cash crop, the majority of labor that indentured servants performed was related to field work.
  • The expansion of staple crop production in the colonies led to an increased demand for skilled workers, and the price of indentured agricultural labor increased.

• Inadequate Currency

  • After the American Civil War, farmers in the South had little cash.
  • When the cotton crop was harvested, farmers turned it over to the merchant to pay back their loan.
  • Sometimes there was cash left over.
  • When cotton prices were low, the crop did not cover the debt and the farmer started the next year in the red.
  • The merchant insisted that more cotton, or some other cash crop, be grown—nothing else paid well—and thus came to dictate the crops that a farmer grew.

• The Plantation Economy and the Planter Class

  • Plantation economies rely on the export of cash crops as a source of income.
  • The longer a crop's harvest period, the more efficient plantations are.
  • Plantation crops differ because they need processing immediately after harvesting.
  • Crops such as coconuts, rubber, and cotton are to a lesser extent.
  • Sugar also has a long history as a plantation crop.

• Economic Conditions

  • Decreases in crop prices and crop failures in the 1880s bred economic discontent among farmers that led to the formation of the Populists.
  • Although crop diversification and the greater focus on cotton as a cash crop offered some potential for farmers to get ahead, other forces worked against that success.
  • The crop failures of the 1880s greatly exacerbated the situation.
  • Unemployment soared and crop prices fell badly.

• Farm Policy of the 20th Century

  • Department of Agriculture established demonstration farms that showed how new techniques could improve crop yields; in 1914, Congress created an Agricultural Extension Service, which enlisted an army of agents to advise farmers and their families about everything from crop fertilizers to home sewing projects.
  • They had to pay in cash for machinery, seed, and fertilizer as well as for consumer goods, yet their incomes had fallen sharply.
  • In years of overproduction, when crop prices fell below the parity level, the government agreed to buy the excess.
  • A few crops, such as lemons and oranges, were subject to overt marketing restrictions.
  • Under so-called marketing orders, the amount of a crop that a grower could market as fresh was limited week by week.

• Day-to-Day Needs

  • Operating cash flow refers to the daily cash inflows and outflows generated from business revenues earned, excluding certain costs.
  • Cash inflows come from cash sales of inventory, collection of credit sales, sales of other assets, and funds obtained through credit financing.
  • Cash outflows occur due to cash payment of business expenses, purchase of assets, and payment on debt .
  • "Cash and cash equivalents" on the balance sheet are the most liquid assets found on this statement.
  • Cash flow forecasting or cash flow management is a key aspect of the financial management of a business, because planning for future cash requirements can help to avoid a liquidity crisis in the business.