THE DEMISE OF THE PIEDMONT COTTON REGION

ABSTRACT

The cotton-producing complex which dominated the Piedmont region from the early nineteenth century to mid-twentieth century began to disintegrate during the 1950s. By 1967 only a few small production “islands,'’vestiges of the traditional region, remained. Rapid disintegration of the region was occasioned by the interplay of a complex set of forces, most of which operated negatively. Most of the region's farmers perceived small cotton acreage allotments as noneconomic. They turned to alternative activities rather than the pursuit of cotton culture under new land operating systems and a new cotton growing technology. Most of the growers and ginners of the region failed to make the technologic transformations necessary to continuation of a viable cotton production complex. Those few who did are responsible for the persistence of the vestigial production islands.

KEY WORDS:

• Allotments
• Alternatives
• Cotton
• Disintegration
• Gins
• Multiple tenant
• Technologic lag