By Carl Zulauf
Southern crop agriculture occupies a prominent position in the history of the US crop safety net (Coppess). Understanding its role in US crop agriculture is thus important. Over the last 100 years, harvested crop acres have declined more in the US South than rest of the US. Cotton accounted for most the decline in the first 50 years. Over the last 50 years, however, harvested acres have declined much more for crops other than the commodity program crops associated with the US South (cotton, peanuts, rice). The change in acreage dynamics prompts a rarely asked question, “Has the high support for cotton, peanuts, and rice hurt Southern crop agriculture in total?”
South vs. Rest of US
The ultimate indicator of competitiveness in crop agriculture is the change in planted acres. The most competitive crops and areas gain acres. The least competitive lose acres. Over the last 100 years, harvested acres of all crops in the US South have declined by 31.9 million (38%) and by 10.3 million acres (4%) in the rest of the US (see Figure 1). This comparison is consistent with crop agriculture in the US South being less competitive than the rest of the US. Moreover, since the crop prosperity of the 1970s, or roughly the last 50 years, harvested acres of all crops have continued to decline in the US South but changed little for the rest of the US (see Data Note 1). The US South is defined in this article as the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.
Cotton, Peanuts, Rice
Cotton, peanuts, and rice are US commodity program crops traditionally associated with the US South. Over the years, they have received higher government support per acre than most other program crops (see, for example, farmdoc daily of June 17, 2020). However, changes in their acres present a mixed picture. During the last 100 years, acres of cotton harvested in the US South have declined by 82% or over 30 million acres while acres of peanuts and rice have increased (see Figure 2). Since 1980, only acres of peanuts have increased. The acres in Figure 2 are from QuickStats (US Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service). QuickStats was used because the 1925 and 1930 US Censuses of Agriculture did not report data by state for some of these crops.
Source : illinois.edu