Which production system is based on a large estate owned by an individual, family, or corporation and organized to produce a cash crop?

Which production system is based on a large estate owned by an individual, family, or corporation and organized to produce a cash crop?

• A. Plantation agriculture
• B. Market gardening
• C. Rural settlement pattern
• D. Shifting cultivation

Answer: (A)

Plantation agriculture is a system built around a single, large estate owned by an individual, family, or corporation, designed to produce a cash crop for sale beyond the farm’s local area. These plantations run on monoculture at a grand scale, typically in tropical or subtropical regions, and crops are chosen for export or high-value markets—examples include sugar, cotton, tea, coffee, and cacao. The owner controls the land and capital, with labor organized to maximize production and profit, a pattern that has historical roots in colonial economies and often involved specialized labor arrangements. In contrast, market gardening involves smaller, intensively managed plots near cities producing a variety of vegetables and fruits for local or regional markets, not a single large estate focused on a cash crop. A rural settlement pattern describes how farms and villages are arranged spatially rather than how production itself is organized. Shifting cultivation entails clearing and burning forest to create new plots periodically, rather than maintaining a large estate specializing in a cash crop.

Plantation agriculture is a system built around a single, large estate owned by an individual, family, or corporation, designed to produce a cash crop for sale beyond the farm’s local area. These plantations run on monoculture at a grand scale, typically in tropical or subtropical regions, and crops are chosen for export or high-value markets—examples include sugar, cotton, tea, coffee, and cacao. The owner controls the land and capital, with labor organized to maximize production and profit, a pattern that has historical roots in colonial economies and often involved specialized labor arrangements.

In contrast, market gardening involves smaller, intensively managed plots near cities producing a variety of vegetables and fruits for local or regional markets, not a single large estate focused on a cash crop. A rural settlement pattern describes how farms and villages are arranged spatially rather than how production itself is organized. Shifting cultivation entails clearing and burning forest to create new plots periodically, rather than maintaining a large estate specializing in a cash crop.