cash crop
Americannoun
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any crop that is considered easily marketable, as wheat or cotton.
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a crop for direct sale in a market, as distinguished from a crop for use as livestock feed or for other purposes.
noun
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a crop grown for sale rather than for subsistence
Etymology
Origin of cash crop
An Americanism dating back to 1865–70
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Wong recalls how farmers cut down durian trees to make room for oil palms, the country's main cash crop, during an economic downturn in the 1990s.
From BBC • Jan. 10, 2026
Canadian officials traveled to China last year to persuade Beijing to remove hefty tariffs on Canadian canola, or rapeseed, which is a major cash crop for farmers in western Canada.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 7, 2026
Today, the Salinas Valley’s biggest cash crop is strawberries, accounting for more than 20% of Monterey County’s $4.9-billion annual production value from agriculture.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 20, 2025
Even then, Arbuckle said, it can be hard to convince farmers to give cover crops a try because, despite the significant environmental benefits, a small drop in cash crop yield can mean a big cost.
From Seattle Times • Nov. 2, 2023
A foreman, he ran the Hermitage cotton gin—an important position on the farm, where cotton was a cash crop.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.