Although many southern farmers looked up the northern banking system as a threat, it was the boll weevil that could completely diminish a crop, and therefore threaten the income of a farmer.
The Boll weevil was a beetle that affected the cotton plantation of Southern Farmers in the US. The infestation of the boll weevil caused losses of 30 to 50% of crops. It had an intense impact on the economic development of the American South because the South was cotton dependent.
