cash crop

noun

: a readily salable crop (such as cotton or tobacco) produced or gathered primarily for market

Examples of cash crop in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Rather than growing crops that could sustain the local food supply, the Europeans who began arriving in the 1600s focused on exploitative extractive economic models and export cash crops through the plantation economy. Farah Nibbs, The Conversation, 22 Oct. 2024 From the pandemic lows to the 2022 highs, the two largest U.S. cash crops, soybeans and corn, boomed, boosting farm revenues enormously. Michael Khouw, CNBC, 12 Aug. 2024 But allocating large blocks of land to foreign investors, reserving water for industrial-sized operations, and concentrating research and development on a few cash crops doesn’t help most farmers. Kofi Annan, Foreign Affairs, 11 Sep. 2015 The overproduction of the region’s first cash crop nearly eradicated it. Ashley Miznazi, Miami Herald, 13 July 2024 See all Example Sentences for cash crop 

Word History

First Known Use

1868, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of cash crop was in 1868

Dictionary Entries Near cash crop

Cite this Entry

“Cash crop.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cash%20crop. Accessed 24 Nov. 2024.

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