Who owned land of sharecropping?

In a sharecropping system, the land was typically owned by wealthy landowners or plantation owners who had large tracts of land. Sharecroppers, often poor farmers, would work the land in exchange for a share of the crops produced, rather than receiving a fixed wage. This arrangement often kept sharecroppers in a cycle of debt and poverty, as they had to pay for supplies and rent from the landowner. Thus, while landowners retained ownership, sharecroppers provided the labor necessary for farming.