SPECIALIZED AGRICULTURE IN THE SOUTH James R. Anderson' ' In the American South, cotton long has been the major cash agricultural commodity; few other farm products have received much attention, except tobacco. However, in recent years other products of southern agriculture have become increasingly important. Great diversity is characteristic of the production patterns associated with peanuts, sugar cane, rice, fruits and nuts, vegetables, horticultural plants, broilers and eggs. At one time or another several, if not all, of these products have been designated as spe cialized agriculture. A définition of specialized agriculture that will meet with complete or even widespread acceptance probably is not possible. Certainly it is not the major purpose of this article to develop and defend such a definition. In this analysis the geographical connotation of specialized agriculture that seems most suitable is the following: specialized agriculture refers to the production of agricultural commodities that are the exception to the general pattern of agriculture prevailing over more extensive areas in the region under study. The study region for this analysis consists of the three farm production regions comprising the southern United States in the standard statistical regionalization employed by the United States Department of Agriculture. This regionalization by groups of states is considered more appropriate than the geographic divisions used by the Bureau of the Census. The farm production regions are: 1) Appalachian, made up of Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina; 2) Southeast, consisting of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Alabama; and 3) the Delta, which has Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Under the above guideline for restricting this study, it will be apparent to those familiar with southern agriculture that the inclusion of tobacco probably is not justified fully and the exclusion of areas of specialized cotton production is not altogether satisfactory. Because tobacco is produced rather widely, certainly relative to the other crops and livestock products included, it appropriately might have been omitted completely. Because of its border line position, relative to the geographical connotation of specialized agri culture being used, and because of the extensive attention that it has re ceived in the geographical literature, tobacco will not be discussed in the amount of detail appropriate to its significance and to the complex diversity in tobacco types and methods of production. Similarly, it can be argued that specialized cotton production does occur over a fairly extensive geo graphical area and thus is more appropriately omitted. •Dr. Anderson is professor of geography, University of Florida, Gainesville. Th e paper was accepted for publication in June 1970. 14 S o u t h e a s t e r n G e o g r a p h e r GENERAL IMPORTANCE OF SPECIALIZED AGRICULTURE A growing degree of specialization in the production of several different kinds of agricultural commodities has occurred in recent years. There long has been a high degree of specialization in the production of cotton and tobacco in southern agriculture, although now owners of large landholdings often are using a considerable acreage for producing another commodity such as beef cattle. Certainly, the need to increase the scale of production (in order to be competitive in an agricultural economy marked by a high degree of efficiency) profoundly has affected the way in which agricultural commodities are produced, as well as where they are produced. Production patterns for broilers and eggs are prime examples of growing specialization and concentration in agricultural activities. Similarly, over a somewhat longer period of time, the production of fruits and vegetables has disappeared completely or nearly completely from most large-scale farms, except for those specialty farms situated in relatively small areal clusters. Rice, pea nuts, and sugar cane always have been restricted to relatively small areas having special physical and other circumstances contributing to the cluster ing of production. Likewise, horticultural plants in recent years have risen to a position of considerable importance only in a few areas with special market, climatic, soil and other advantages. Early Irish potato production near Hastings, Florida, and Mobile, Alabama, on organic soils is just one example of marked specialization extending over a very limited area. The total value of specialized agricultural commodities grown in the southern states constitutes 44...