The issues that impacted farmers and farming in South Carolina are:
- Lower costs for crops implied that farmers got less money and many sank into obligation and lost their homesteads.
- Sharecroppers and tenant farmers were already locked in an endless cycle of debt, and those fortunate enough to claim their own territory were pounded by falling costs.
- Insect damage.
- Rivalry from other regions for SC's staple crops.
- Plagues of pests such as grasshoppers, armyworms, or the boll weevil.
- Droughts and floods could clear out an entire harvest, leaving the farmer with nothing.
- Seven hurricanes severely damaged ranches and crops.
- The rice industry never really recuperated.