What Were the “breadbasket Colonies”?

The “breadbasket colonies” were the North American colonies that produced more food than the other colonies in the country. These colonies were comprised of small farms that grew wheat, apples, peaches and other foods.

The “breadbasket colonies” were also called the “Middle Colonies,” and they included Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York and New Jersey. They grew far more food than the Southern or New England colonies, and each farmer had his own farm of between 50 to 150 acres.

Farmers who grew wheat would take their wheat to flour mills and grind it into flour so that it would not spoil. Once they had flour, they would send it down to other colonies, and this was how they made a living.