[Restorer]

If the North had had a reasonable agricultural base, rather than being so heavily dependent on manufacturing (and the South's largely agrarian economy), that war would never have been fought.

You are just showing your ignorance of history here. The North was heavily industrialized at the time only in comparison with the South. The vast majority of the Union population lived on farms. Most Union soldiers were farmers.

During the course of the war, northern farmers not only fed the Union armies, they also exported huge amounts of food to Europe which largely paid for Union imports of armaments.

Prior to the war, the South imported a great deal of its food from northern and border states, as southern plantations were highly focused on production of such cash crops as cotton.

[A Jovial Cad]

*Prior to the war, the South imported a great deal of its food from northern and border states, as southern plantations were highly focused on production of such cash crops as cotton*

Yep, and tobacco and hemp. The only real food-staple crop cultivated in the South prior to Sumter in any substantial quantity was rice.