These two terms are very closely related, but the basic difference occurs in how the tenant or the sharecropper pay the farm or agricultural land owner. Neither own the land they farm. The tenant farmer pays a certain amount of rent per year that is invariable whether they have a good crop or not. A sharecropper pays with a share of the crop harvested regardless of the quality or quantity of the crop. In other words, the tenant farmer pays a fixed amount for the land, the sharecropper pays a percentage of their harvested crop which can vary year to year.