PORK IN THE ANTE-BELLUM SOUTH: THE GEOGRAPHY OF SELF-SUFFICIENCY

Traditional interpretation of the Ante-Bellum southern economy has assumed a widespread and chronic shortage of food, especially pork. Comparison of pork production with estimated consumption, however, reveals that the level of subsistence varied markedly within the South. The major areas whose production was far below their needs were Louisiana and coastal South Carolina. Other areas with lesser shortages were some western Mississippi counties adjacent to the river, the Gulf Coast counties of Alabama and Mississippi, the Black Belt of Alabama, and parts of the Georgia-Carolina Piedmont. Although a number of counties were deficient, the greater part of the area produced pork sufficient for local needs. In fact, the Hill South sent huge surpluses to market in both the East and the South. The pork deficiencies were made up either by shipments of live animals overland from the Hill States or by western pork via the Mississippi waterway. South Carolina and Louisiana were the major markets for extra-regional pork, and they accounted for most of the pork that moved into the region. A number of factors affected the level of subsistence in the deficit areas. Undoubtedly, the presence of an intense commercial crop economy with its associated large labor force placed a strain on local supplies. More important, a remunerative cash crop provided income enough to pay for imported pork. Urban populations, too, were nodes of high consumption. The total population of the twenty-five largest cities in the area approached half a million in 1860 and they could have consumed over half of the pork moving into New Orleans at that time. Finally, the deficient areas were located near established trade routes where extra-regional pork was readily available. On the whole, pork production in relation to consumption was extremely variable in the South. There were a number of "regions" in the area with each fulfilling its meat needs as its situation permitted.