Specialized Agriculture in the South

SPECIALIZED AGRICULTURE IN THE SOUTH J ames R. Anderson' ' In th e A m eric an So u th , c o tto n lo n g has b e en th e m ajo r c ash ag ric u ltu ral c o m m o d ity ; few o th er farm p ro d u c ts h av e rec eiv ed m u ch atten tio n , ex c ep t to b ac c o . H o w ev er, in re c en t y ears o th er p ro d u c ts o f so u thern ag ricu ltu re h av e b ec o m e in c reasin g ly im p o rtan t. G re at d iv ersity is c h arac te ristic o f th e p ro d u c tio n p attern s asso ciated w ith p ean u ts, su g ar c an e, ric e , fru its and n u ts, v eg etab les, h o rtic u ltu ral p lan ts, b ro ilers an d eg g s. A t o n e tim e o r an o th er sev eral, if n o t all, o f th ese p ro d u c ts h av e b e e n d esig n ated as sp e­ c ializ ed ag ric u ltu re. A d éfinitio n o f sp ec ializ ed ag ric u ltu re th at w ill m eet w ith c o m p lete o r ev en w id esp read ac c e p tan c e p ro b ab ly is n o t p o ssib le. C e rtain ly it is n o t th e m ajo r p u rp o se o f this artic le to d ev elo p an d d efen d su c h a d efin itio n . In th is analy sis th e g eo g rap h ic al c o n n o tatio n o f sp ec ializ ed ag ric u ltu re that seem s m o st su itab le is th e fo llo w ing : sp ec ializ ed ag ric u ltu re refers to th e p ro d u c tio n o f ag ric u ltu ral co m m o d ities th at are th e ex c ep tio n to th e g en eral p attern o f ag ric u ltu re p rev ailin g o v er m o re extensiv e areas in th e reg io n u n d er stu d y . T h e stu d y reg io n fo r th is analy sis c o nsists o f th e th re e farm p ro d u c tio n reg io n s c o m p risin g th e so u th ern U n ite d States in th e stan d ard statistic al reg io n aliz atio n em p lo y ed b y th e U n ited States D e p artm en t o f A g ric u ltu re. T h is reg io n aliz atio n b y g ro u p s o f states is c o n sid ered m o re ap p ro p riate th an th e g eo g rap h ic d iv isio ns u sed b y th e Bu reau o f th e C ensu s. T h e farm p ro d u ctio n reg io n s are: 1 ) A p p alach ian , m ad e u p o f V irg in ia, W e st V irg in ia, K e n tu c k y , T e n n esse e, an d N o rth C aro lin a; 2 ) So...