Ancient history

How was farming in the Middle colonies different from plantation farming?

Middle Colonies Farming

- Smaller farms of 100-200 acres

- Farmed by families (with some indentured servants)

- Grew a wide variety of crops for subsistence and cash: wheat, corn, barley, oats, rye, buckwheat, flax, hemp, tobacco

- Also raised livestock, especially cattle and pigs

Plantation Farming

- Large farms of 10,000-15,000 acres

- Farmed by enslaved people

- Grew a single cash crop, usually tobacco or cotton

- Little subsistence farming