Cash Crops Quiz

Overview of Cash Crops

• Cash crops are crops grown to sell for profit, purchased by parties separate from a farm.
• Cash crops are differentiated from staple crops in subsistence agriculture, which are fed to the producer's own livestock or grown as food for the producer's family.
• Most crops in developed countries and among smallholders are grown mainly for revenue.
• Prices for major cash crops are set in international trade markets, and local variation is based on freight costs and local supply and demand balance.
• Arctic climate is generally not conducive for the cultivation of cash crops, but Rhodiola rosea is a hardy plant with medicinal properties that grows in the Arctic.
• Cash crops grown in regions with a temperate climate include many cereals, oil-yielding crops, vegetables, lumber yielding trees, tree fruit, and soft fruit.
• In regions with a subtropical climate, oil-yielding crops, cotton, rice, tobacco, indigo, citrus, pomegranates, and some vegetables and herbs are the predominant cash crops.
• In regions with a tropical climate, coffee, cocoa, sugar cane, bananas, oranges, cotton, and jute are common cash crops.
• Developing countries take the position that the current international trade system is unfair because of subsidies and trade barriers on such crops, which have been controversial in discussions of globalization.
• Cash cropping in the United States rose to prominence after World War II and is the main factor in having an affordable food supply in the country.
• Approximately 70% of the world's food is produced by 500 million smallholder farmers who depend on the production of cash crops, but they lack access to agricultural inputs and finance.
• Coca, opium poppies, and cannabis are significant black market cash crops, and cannabis is considered to be the most valuable cash crop in the United States.