Agricultural History Review, Volume 47 Part 1 (1999), pp. 7–28

Most previous studies of Belgian land productivity in the eighteenth century have focused on the Flemish region, notably the provinces of Brabant, East and West Flanders. The evolution of crop yields in the other provinces has scarcely been considered. By constructing a new series of yield estimates for all provinces within Belgium, this article seeks to fill an important gap in rural historigraphy and sheds new light on the internal dynamics of Belgian agriculture during a period of fundamental economic change, 1750-1850. Our estimates show a noticeable increase in arable crop yields in the southern Low Countries in the second half of the eighteenth century. Although land productivity responded positively to rapid population growth and rising prices after 1750, it realised a less marked rate of increase. The increase in yield after 1750 can therefore not be attributed to an 'agricultural revolution': the term 'growth acceler- ation' seems a more appropriate description of the agricultural growth process. 

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