Under this system, farmers worked as sharecroppers and gave part of their harvest to the landowner.

sharecroppers 是由 share（份额）和 cropper（种植者）组成的复合名词。share 在这里指"分成、份额"，cropper 来自动词 crop（种植、收割）加后缀 -er 表示人。sharecropper 指"分成制佃农"，即耕种他人土地并将部分收成交给地主的农民。