A cash crop is an agricultural crop which is grown for sale for profit. It is typically purchased by parties separate from a farm. The term cash crop is applied exclusively to the agricultural production of plants; animal agriculture is not a part of the terminology. The term is used to differentiate marketed crops from subsistence crops, which are those fed to the producer's own livestock or grown as food for the producer's family. In earlier times cash crops were usually only a small (but vital) part of a farm's total yield, while today, especially in the developed countries, almost all crops are mainly grown for revenue. In least developed countries, cash crops are usually crops which attract demand in more developed nations, and hence have some export value.
Prices for major cash crops are set in commodity markets with global scope, with some local variation (termed as "basis") based on freight costs and local supply and demand balance. A consequence of this is that a nation, region, or individual producer relying on such a crop may suffer low prices should a bumper crop elsewhere lead to excess supply on the global markets. This system has been criticized by traditional farmers. Coffee is an example of a product that has been susceptible to significant commodity futures price variations.
Read more about Cash Crop: Globalization, Global Cash Crops, Black Market Cash Crops
Famous quotes containing the words cash and/or crop:
“If when a businessman speaks of minority employment, or air pollution, or poverty, he speaks in the language of a certified public accountant analyzing a corporate balance sheet, who is to know that he understands the human problems behind the statistical ones? If the businessman would stop talking like a computer printout or a page from the corporate annual report, other people would stop thinking he had a cash register for a heart. It is as simple as that—but that isn’t simple.”
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