Alabama ranked 23rd among the 50 states in farm marketing in 2001, with $3.5 billion, of which only $705 million came from crops.
There was considerable diversity in Alabama's earliest agriculture. By the mid-19th century, however, cotton had taken over, and production of other crops dropped so much that corn and other staples, even work animals, were often imported. In 1860, cotton was grown in every county, and one-crop agriculture had already worn out much of Alabama's farmland.
Diversification began early in the 20th century, a trend accelerated by the destructive effects of the boll weevil on cotton growing. In 2002, only 590,000 acres (238,800 hectares) were planted in cotton, compared to 3,500,000 acres (1,400,000 hectares) in 1930. As of 2002 there were some 47,000 farms in Alabama, occupying approximately 8.9 million acres (3.6 million hectares), or roughly 30% of the state's land area. Soybeans and livestock are raised in the Black Belt; peanuts in the southeast; vegetables, livestock, and timber in the southwest; and cotton and soybeans in the Tennessee River Valley.
In 2002, Alabama ranked 3rd in the US in production of peanuts, with 379,250,000 lb (172,024,000 kg), worth about $63,714,000. Other crops included soybeans, 3,720,000 bushels, $19,902,000; corn for fresh market, 102,000 hundredweight (4,630,000 kg), $1,734,000; wheat, 2,400,000 bushels, $6,960,000; tomatoes for fresh market, 322,000 hundredweight (14,605,000 kg), $7,438,000; sweet potatoes, 624,000 hundredweight (28,304,000 kg), $11,400,000; and pecans, 7,000,000 lb (3,175,500 kg), $4,039,000. The 2002 cotton crop of 575,000 bales was valued at $117,300,000.