Agricultural Diversification in Georgia, 1939-1959

Agricultural Diversification in Georgia, 1939-1959 Irene Johnson * This study seeks to analyze one facet of the American agricultural revolution through an examination of agricultural diversification. In particular , the study seeks to accomplish two objectives. The first of these is basic, and the other grows out of the first. The first aim is to discuss the spatial variation in agricultural diversification for 1939, 1949, and 1959. This is accomplished through a two-pronged investigation based on both land use and source of farm income. The second objective is an extension of the first in that it seeks to develop a model of stages of diversification and to apply this model to selected areas within the state. The study area corresponds to that part of Georgia designated as the cotton belt by Baker and Whittlesey in the 1920's, i.e., the Piedmont and Inner Coastal Plain. (I) Several writers have shown that the concept of such a large monocultural region is invalid and that if such a region as Baker and Whittlesey's cotton belt ever existed, its boundaries are inaccurate in terms of current data. (2) METHODOLOGY. Data were collected for 105 counties of the Piedmont and Inner Coastal Plain of the state. The Gini coefficient of concentration was used to determine the relative diversification of each county. This statistical device measures the closeness of any given distribution to an equal distribution. In an equal distribution, the total amount of any variable is equally divided among the total number of categories. Such a condition represents maximum diversification or a Gini coefficient of zero. The value of the Gini coefficient varies between zero and one which represents maximum concentration of some variable in only one of a given number of categories. (3) The criteria used to measure diversification included both land use and value of farm products sold. Census data were available for eight categories of farm products sold: (1) field crops other than vegetables, fruits, and nuts; (2) vegetables; (3) fruit and nuts; (4) horticultural specialties; (5) dairy products; (6) poultry products; (7) livestock products other than poultry and dairy products; and (8) forest products. The first category was subdivided so that the value of cotton sold was isolated from the other field crops. Therefore the Gini coefficient based on value of farm products sold was computed for nine categories for each county. The leading seven crops in harvested cropland and cropland used for pasture comprised the eight categories used in computing the Gini coefficient based on land use. Cropland used for pasture was included here because it reflects the increased stress on livestock production more than any other type of land use. The two criteria supplement each other in providing a more thorough understanding of diversification. *Dr. Johnson is associate professor of geography at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Tallahassee. The paper was accepted for publication in July 1967. Vol. VII, 196735 ANALYSIS OF LAND USE DIVERSIFICATION. Gini coefficients of concentration based on land use were computed for 1939, 1949, and 1959 for each county. Circles whose sizes were visually proportionate to the amount of diversification were used to portray these computations on maps. In an effort to show a maximum amount of information with the range of readibility and to facilitate discussion of diversification, the following four categories were used: (1) high diversification, (2) moderate diversification, (3) low diversification, and (4) concentration, in decreasing order of the size of the circles. (The corresponding Gini coefficients as shown on the maps of land use diversification are: (1) .50 and less, (2) .51-.6O, (3) .61-.7O, and (4) .71 and over, respectively). Moreover, each circle was subdivided to show the percentage of the various land uses in each county. Figure 1 shows land use diversification for 1939 and is the basis for the ensuing discussion. This map reveals a preponderance of high diversification in the Piedmont and concentration in the Coastal Plain. In the southwest Coastal Plain, the leading peanut-growing section of the state, the corn-peanut and the corn-peanut-cotton combinations were dominant. Corn was generally the leading crop and accounted for 30 to 40 per cent of the total cropland. In the east Coastal...