hardscrabble

1. (Canada, US, of land) Requiring much work to farm, and ultimately not very productive.Examples: "his hardscrabble peanut farm"; "In the case of Allegheny Briskow, poverty, the drought, the grinding hardships of these hard-scrabble Texas counties, had dwarfed the intellect, the very soul of a splendid young animal."; "Villages in the more remote and hard-scrabble regions, including some mountain areas, are being abandoned, and nature is starting to creep back."CanadaUSnot-comparable

2. (Canada, US, by extension) Involving hard work and struggle.Examples: "He leads a hardscrabble existence."; "Being the savage’s bowsman, that is, the person who pulled the bow-oar in his boat (the second one from forward), it was my cheerful duty to attend upon him while taking that hard-scrabble scramble upon the dead whale’s back."; "While Rose tried to keep up with Westbrook, the Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony struggled mightily, going 4 of 19 for 18 hardscrabble points."CanadaUSbroadlynot-comparable