Final answer:
Sharecropping was an agricultural production system in the South whereby wealthy landowners leased individual plots of land on plantations to white and black individuals in exchange for a percentage of the yearly yield of crops. By 1880, most southern blacks had become sharecroppers.
Step-by-step explanation:
The agricultural production system being described in the question is sharecropping. Sharecropping was a system in which wealthy landowners leased individual plots of land on plantations to white and black individuals in exchange for a percentage of the yearly yield of crops. This system was preferred by blacks because it gave them a sense of independence and responsibility, but ironically, it resulted in less independence and bound them to the land due to high debts. By 1880, most southern blacks had become sharecroppers.