Rural tenancy refers to a type of
sharecropping
Sharecropping is a legal arrangement with regard to agricultural land in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land.
Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range ...
or tenancy arrangement that a
landowner can use to make full use of
property
Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, r ...
he may not otherwise be able to develop properly.
A "
tenant" or non-landowner will take residency on the property of the landowner and work the land in exchange for giving the landowner a percentage of the profits from the eventual crop.
Tenancy
A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to hold land or property in which a lessee or a tenant holds rights of real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord. Although a tenant does hold rights to real property, a l ...
can be unintrusive (where the tenant provides home, transportation, tools, seed, etc.) in which case the landowner gives the tenant a large portion of the profits or it can be intrusive (where the landowner provides home, food, tools, seed, etc. on credit) in which case the landowner will keep most or even all of the profits. The term "rural tenancy" usually describes the situation of previously enslaved people that were now tenants on the landowner's property. The landowner would extend the
farmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer m ...
shelter, food, and necessary items on credit to be repaid out of the tenant's share of the
crop
A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. When the plants of the same kind are cultivated at one place on a large scale, it is called a crop. Most crops are cultivated in agriculture or hydropon ...
. The farmer could, if he desired, charge the tenant extremely high interest on the advanced pay since there were no lending laws applicable to migrant or tenant workers at the time. This could ultimately result in the tenant owing the landlord more money than his share of the crop at harvest and forcing the farmer to be further
indentured
An indenture is a legal contract that reflects or covers a debt or purchase obligation. It specifically refers to two types of practices: in historical usage, an indentured servant status, and in modern usage, it is an instrument used for commercia ...
to the landowner. This practice was used frequently by landowners in the South after
slavery
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
was abolished. Modern day tenancy is much more highly regulated and these practices are less common.
A "tenant" or non-landowner will take residency on the property of the landowner and work the land in exchange for giving the landowner a percentage of the profits from the eventual crop.
References
Agricultural labor
{{Agri-stub