Spatial changes in cropland harvested in eight southeastern states, 1939 to 1974

Between 1939 and 1974 cropland harvested in the Southeast declined from slightly more than 50,000,000 acres to about 32,000,000 acres. The purpose of this research is to identify those areas in the Southeast, using county data, where cropland harvested has changed significantly since l939 and to evaluate how the character of the land surface may have interacted with the changing nature of Southeastern agriculture to bring about the present patterns of cropland harvested.

Definite patterns of change in the acreage of cropland harvested appeared in the Southeast (defined here as Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee). The largest area of heavy proportional losses of acreage occurred in an area extending from northwestern Alabama across northern Georgia and South Carolina into western North Carolina. Other relatively large areas of heavy losses included much of southern Mississippi and southwestern Alabama, central Arkansas and Louisiana, and much of northern Arkansas. Losses were proportionally light on most of the Coastal Plain from southwestern Georgia through North Carolina. The alluvial Mississippi lowland and the Louisiana Coastal Prairies stood out as an area where the acreage of cropland harvested increased. By 1974 cropland harvested in the study area had not only decreased, but had also become concentrated in two major areas-the Mississippi lowland and the Coastal Plain.

The patterns of change were found to be associated fairly closely with the nature of slope in the study area. All the counties experiencing an increase in cropland harvested were found on terrain classified as some type of plain (more than 50 percent of the land area gently sloping), and of these approximately 94 percent were found where the land is classified as smooth or flat plains (more than 80 percent gently sloping). However, heavy proportional decreases occurred in association with every type of land surface in the Southeast; approximately 60 percent of the counties in the study area undergoing heavy loss had terrain classified as irregular plain. Severe erosion in the recent past was also found to be related to heavy losses of cropland harvested, especially on the irregular plains of the Georgia and South Carolina Piedmont.

The patterns of change in the Southeast were also affected by certain agricultural developments. Technological changes, especially mechanization, tend to reduce subsistance agriculture. Furthermore, the conversion to tractor power made flat lands even more desirable than they once had been for crop production, not only because machinery is more easily operated on such lands, but also because the formation of large fields is facilitated where there are large tracts of flat land. Additionally, the increased importance of livestock affected spatial changes in cropland harvested in the Southeast. Cattle, in particular, successfully competed with crops for land throughout much of the study area, but such areas as the Mississippi lowlands and the Coastal Prairies experienced a reduction in cattle. Although government programs such

as acreage allotments and the soil bank led to a reduction in the acreage of certain crops, they do not seem to have had a discernible impact on the overall patterns of change.

Consideration was given to certain aspects of forestry in the Southeast. A few rather large areas where land is neither excessively steep nor has the soil been subjected to severe erosion lost proportionally heavy amounts of cropland harvested. Examples include much of southern Mississippi and central Arkansas and Louisiana. In these areas forestry expanded at the expense of cropland. Appreciable amounts of land were given over to forests largely because the physical environment presented some obstacle to crop cultivation, for the most part the poor chemical properties of the soils.

Technology alters the way in which man perceives the land and the way in which he uses it. With improved agricultural technology, the problems of low inherent fertility or poor natural drainage have become less important hinderances to crop cultivation. But the nature of the land surface, specifically extensive flat or gently sloping land, appears to have become an increasingly important factor in the location of modern crop agriculture.