What aspect characterized tenant farming in the post-Civil War South?

The characteristic that defined tenant farming in the post-Civil War South is the system where farmers worked for a share of the crops. After the Civil War, many formerly enslaved people and poor white farmers faced difficulties in accessing land ownership and capital. As a result, they often entered into agreements with landowners where they would cultivate land in exchange for a portion of the crop produced. This sharecropping system allowed tenants to work the land without needing to own it, but it also often resulted in cycles of debt and dependency due to exploitative practices by landowners.

This arrangement contrasted sharply with other agricultural systems, such as land ownership, cash rent leasing, or labor without pay. Tenant farmers typically cultivated the land with the hope of generating income from the crops they produced, making it a distinct aspect of agricultural life in the post-Civil War South.