Cash Crop

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CASH CROP


A cash crop is any crop that a farmer sells for money, rather than holding it for use by his own family, or to feed livestock, or for bartering with others. For example if a farmer grows corn, wheat and soybeans, but sells only wheat on the open market for cash while feeding his corn to his livestock and bartering his soybeans for other goods, the wheat is his cash crop. Economists may also use the term to refer to any crop that is easily sold on the open market, such as wheat, cotton or tobacco, or to one that historically has produced a high rate of return on the grower's investment.

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