Name a crop associated with Global North grain farming and a crop associated with Global South plantation economies.

• A. Global North grain farming: Wheat; Global South plantation economy: Coffee
• B. Global North grain farming: Rice; Global South plantation economy: Cotton
• C. Global North grain farming: Maize; Global South plantation economy: Banana
• D. Global North grain farming: Soybeans; Global South plantation economy: Sugarcane

Answer: (A)

Wheat is a hallmark of Global North grain farming because temperate regions with long growing seasons support large-scale, highly mechanized production of this staple grain for domestic and international markets. Coffee, by contrast, is a classic export crop tied to plantation economies in the Global South, grown on large estates in tropical regions and shaped by global trade networks rooted in colonial and postcolonial systems. This pairing highlights the contrast between intensive, market-oriented grain farming in the north and plantation-style, export-oriented cash crops in the south. The other options mix crops in ways that aren’t as strongly emblematic of those patterns: rice and other grains in the south, or plantation crops paired with crops that aren’t as clearly linked to the plantation model.