Like always, you simply ignore what I wrote. The words "most" and "agricultural" mean things. I'm even old enough to remember seeing cotton being harvested by hand yet I don't recall ever seeing anyone harvest wheat by hand. You look for the exceptions to deny the fact that the south lagged far behind in terms of industrialization and significant portions of the region's agriculture relying on unskilled, mostly "share-cropper" labor.
It took the REA, TVA, and WWII followed by the Cold War Military Industrial Complex (big Federal Government) to bring serious levels of industry into the south.
It also brought a hell of a lot of "damn yankee carpetbagers."
Well, I certainly agree with your last statement :)