<P> Sharecropping is a form of agriculture in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on their portion of land . Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range of different situations and types of agreements that have used a form of the system . Some are governed by tradition , and others by law . Legal contract systems such as the Italian mezzadria , the French métayage , the Spanish mediero , or the Islamic system of muqasat , occur widely . </P>
who were farmers who kept a small portion of their crops & gave the rest to the landowners
Sharecropping