Agricultural History Review, Volume 60 Part 2 (2012), pp. 173–190

The aim of this article is to analyse the management of agricultural estates in Catalonia during the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century, mainly through the analysis of the landlord expenditure recorded in estate accounts. The data comes from eight private archives, from which we have constructed ten series of accounts which describe groups of farms spread throughout the main agricultural zones of Catalonia. The changes in the contributions made by the landowners towards the running costs can help us to understand their role in the processes of growth and intensification of agricultural production. We show that, while the level of investment they made was modest, the landowners did not behave like absentee landlords who showed no interest in maximizing the productive potential of their estates. 

Complete Volume PDF