Crop-lien system

The crop-lien system was a credit arrangement used in the Southern United States after the Civil War. Farmers, mainly sharecroppers and tenant farmers, would borrow supplies and food from local stores by promising a portion of their future crops as repayment. These stores often charged high interest and inflated prices, trapping farmers in a cycle of debt. This system limited farmers' independence, kept them reliant on store credit, and often led to poverty and economic hardship, perpetuating a cycle of dependence and inequality in the post-war agrarian economy.