A similar pattern took shape throughout the South. From 1950 to 1978, for example, the number of agricultural jobs in the South declined by more than half, according to historian Charles P. Roland. Yet, farming by no means stopped in the region. Rather, profits soared from some crops and livestock that took the place of cotton in a new diversified approach to agriculture. But gradually, more and more land fell into fewer hands as agribusiness, with all the vast acreage and sleek machinery that the term implies, replaced small family farms.
Statistics show the scope of the transformation.
In 1930, there were 16,605 farmers in Elbert, Hart, Abbeville, and Anderson Counties. By 1974, there were only 2,725 left, a drop of 83 percent. During the same time span, Abbeville County lost 85 percent of its farms, while farms 99 acres and larger increased from 18.2 percent to 63.2 percent of all farms. Tenant farmers who comprised so much of the area's population were affected most by the change from small farms to big ones. Looking again at 1930, there were 12,466 tenant farmers in the four counties then, compared to just 127 in 1974, a drop of 99 percent.