Land Productivity and Agro-systems in the North Sea Area (Middle Ages - 20th Century). Elements for Comparison [Illustrated] 2503509622, 9782503509624

Citation preview

CORN Publication Series 2

©1999 BREPOLS 'i£!l PUBLISHERS- Turnhout All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. D/1999/0095/74 ISBN 2-503-50962-2

LAND PRODUCTIVITY AND AGRO-SYSTEMS IN THE NORTH SEA AREA (MIDDLE AGES - 20th CENTURY) ELEMENTS FOR COMPARISON Edited by Bas J.P. van Bavel & Erik Thoen

BREPOLS

CONTENTS List of contributors

7

List of figures

8

List of tables

10

Editors preface

15

General introduction Mark OVERTON

17

PART I

NATIONAL OVERVIEWS

Introduction to part I Paul GLENNIE 1. Arable productivity in Flanders and the former territory of Belgium in a long-term perspective (from the Middle Ages to the end of the Ancien Regime) Guy DEJONGH and Erik THOEN 2. Arable productivity in Belgian agriculture, c.1800-c.1950 Guy DEJONGH and Eric V ANHAUTE 3. Arable yields and total arable output in the Netherlands from the late Middle Ages to the mid-19th century Bas J.P. VAN BAVEL 4. Crop yields in Dutch agriculture, 1850-1990 Peter C.M. HOPPENBROUWERS 5. From the North Sea to Berry and Lorraine: land productivity in Northern France, 13th-19th centuries Gerard BEAUR 6. Estimating arable production and productivity in Danish agriculture during the age of reform, 1750-1850 Dan C. CHRISTENSEN 7. Statistics of production and productivity in English agriculture, 1086-1871 Mark OVERTON and Bruce M.S. CAMPBELL 8. Power availability and agricultural productivity in England and Wales, 1840-1939 Edward J.T. COLLINS PART II

22

30 65

85 113

136

168

189

209

REGIONAL AND AGROSYSTEMIC STUDIES

Introduction to part II Edward J.T. Collins

229

5

Land productivity and agro-systems

9. Farming system research as a guideline in agricultural history Jan BIELEMAN 10. Agrosystems and rural change in Northern France, c.1750-c.1850 Jean-Pierre JESSENNE 11. The 'Flemish Husbandry' at the edge: the farming system on small holdings in the middle of the 19th century Erik THOEN and Eric VANHAUTE 12. A valuation of arable productivity in the central part of the Dutch river area, c.1360-c.1570 Bas J.P. VAN BAVEL 13. Wheat yields in Zeeland from c.1585-1995 Peter PRIESTER 14. Land productivity in a lightland agricultural system: the Hampshire Downs, 1835-1914 Bethanie AFTON PART III

235 251 271

297 311 325

GENERAL STUDIES

15. A new method of estimating land productivity Jean-Michel CHEVET 16. The development of agricultural productivity in Europe, 1500-1800 Jan Luiten VAN ZANDEN

357

Land productivity and agricultural systems: some conclusions Paul BRASSLEY

377

6

339

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS

BETHANIE AFTON

Rural History Centre, University of Reading, UK

BAS J.P. VAN BAVEL

NWO, Department of Medieval History, University of Amsterdam, NL

GERARD BEAUR

CNRS, Centre de Recherches Historiques, Paris, F

JAN BIELEMAN

Department of Rural History, Agricultural University Wageningen, NL

PAUL BRASSLEY

Seale-Hayne Faculty, University of Plymouth, UK

BRUCE M.S.CAMPBELL

Department of Economic and Social History, The Queen's University of Belfast, UK

JEAN-MICHEL CHEVET

Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Ivry, F

DAN C. CHRISTENSEN

Department of History, University of Roskilde, DK

EDWARD J.T COLLINS

Rural History Centre, University of Reading, UK

GUY DEJONGH

Centrum voor Economische Studien, Catholic University Leuven, B

PAUL GLENNIE

Department of Geography, University of Bristol, UK

PETER HOPPENBROUWERS Department of History, University of Leiden, NL JEAN-PIERRE JESSENNE

Institut de Recherches et de Documentation en Sciences Sociales, University of Rouen, F

MARK OVERTON

Department of Economic and Social History, University of Exeter, UK

PETER PRIESTER

Department of Rural History, Agricultural University W ageningen, NL

ERIK THOEN

Department of Medieval History, University of Ghent, B

ERIC VANHAUTE

Department of Contemporary History, University of Ghent, B

JAN LUITEN VAN ZANDEN Department of History, University of Utrecht, NL 7

LIST OF FIGURES

1.1 1.2 1.3 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 3.1 3.2 3.3 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 5 .1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 9 .1 9.2 10.1 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 11. 7 11.8 11.9

8

Map of the Belgian provinces and the borders of the former County of Flanders Tithe incomes in four areas of the southern Netherlands, 1350-1800 Fodder crops and the reduction of fallow in the Land of Alost, 17th-18th centuries Output value of arable and livestock farming in Belgium, 1845-1914 Trends in land use in Belgium, five-yearly means, 1850-1910 Indices of yields of grain and potatoes in Belgium, 1850-1940 Coefficients of variation between regional data on crop productivity in Belgium, 1760-1950 Indices of the price of commercial feeds and fertilizers, wages and rents in Belgium, 1877-1913 Ten-yearly progressive average of total arable yields per area sown and winter rainfall in the Beijerlanden (NI), 1630-1840 Yields per area sown in the Wilhelminapolder (Zeeland), 1815-1910 Map of the Netherlands showing the place names dealt with in the text General map of the Netherlands Distribution of the various types of agricultural land-use in the Netherlands Yearly deviation of average yields of wheat, rye, oats and potatoes, 1851-1881 Yearly deviation of average yields of wheat, rye, oats and potatoes, 1974-1993 The Dutch agriculture according to Staring, c. 1870 General map of the north of France Maps of different departements covered in this chapter Maps of different departements covered in this chapter, continued Estimated yields in Flanders Maritime, 17th-20th centuries Yields in Eure-et-Loir, 19th century Agricultural output in Flanders Maritime, 17th-20th centuries Total agricultural output in Flanders Maritime, 17th-20th centuries Hierarchical levels in crop production Agriculture as a hierarchy of systems Map with the agro-systemic zones in Northern France Map situating the studied villages in Belgium Size of the holdings in Meigem and Desssel, mid-19th century Lorentz curve of holding sizes in Meigem and Dessel Property holding in Meigem and Dessel Land use in Meigem and Dessel Importance of the bread grains in Meigem and Dessel Importance of oats in Meigem and Dessel Importance of buckwheat in Meigem and Dessel Importance of potatoes in Meigem and Dessel

List a/figures

11.10 11.11 11.12 11.13 11.14 11.15 12.1 12.2 13.1 13.2 13.3 14.1 14.2 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 15.6 15.7 16.l 16.2 16.3

Vegetable gardens in Meigem and Dessel Importance of catch crops in Meigem Cattle units per holding in Meigem and Dessel Cattle units per ha arable land in Meigem and Dessel Importance of fodder crops in Meigem and Dessel Importance of industrial crops in Meigem and Dessel Map of the present-day Netherlands, with research area indicated Geological map of the Dutch river area Share of wheat in tithed land in Zeeland Yields of wheat in the regions Schouwen-Duiveland, Westkerkepolder and the Province of Zeeland Map of Zeeland: regions as they appear in the text The location of the Hampshire Chalklands Land use on the Hampshire Downs, 1837-1913 Proportion of permanent pasture land and fallow land in northern France, Belgium and the Netherlands, mid-19th century Proportion of cereals in northern France, Belgium and the Netherlands Wheat yields in northern France, Belgium and the Netherlands, mid-19th century Nitrogen requirements in northern France, Belgium and the Netherlands Phosphate requirements in northern France, Belgium and the Netherlands Potassium requirements in northern France, Belgium and the Netherlands Calcium requirements in northern France, Belgium and the Netherlands Real rent per hectare in Flanders and Brabant, 1441175-1801/25 Real rent per hectare in Holland, France and England, 1441175-1801/25 Relationship between degree of urbanization and average yield ratio, c. 1800

9

LIST OF TABLES

1.1 1.2

Yield ratios of wheat and oats on three farms in N orthem France, 1187 Proportion of cultivated crops in chancelleries of Fumes (1550-64) and Audenarde (1541-50) 1.3 Fallow and dries-lands on small holdings in the chancellery of Audenarde, 1347-1567 1.4 Gross and net yields of wheat in the rural area around Lille, 1285-1541 1.5 Cereal yields in the area of Brussels and Bruges, 1359-1496 1.6 Cereal yields in the area of Audenarde, Alost and Fumes, 1410-1795 1. 7 Distribution of arable crops in the 'Land of Alo st', 1605-1795 1.8 Crops cultivated in the area south of Bruges, 1651-1680 1.9 Composition of cultivated area in Belgium, per province, 1760-1846 1.10 Cereal crop yields in Belgium, per province, 1760-1846 1.11 Gross yields of industrial crops (flax, coleseed) and potatoes in Belgium, per province, 17 60-1846 2.1 Sectoral division of the value added in Belgium, 1812-1910 2.2 Average annual growth rate of the arable and livestock production in Belgium, 1850-1910 2.3 Yields of grains and potatoes in five-yearly means, 1850-1940 2.4 Livestock population and arable land in Belgium, 1846-1940 2.5 A comparison of the input and output values in Belgian agriculture, 18811939 3.1 Yield ratios in the Netherlands, 1400-1813 3.2 Weighted averages of the total lease price of tithes in the surroundings of Maastricht, expressed in quantities of grain, 1348-1789 3.3 Yields per area sown in the Brabantse Westhoek, 1740-1870 3.4 Lease prices of tithes, expressed in quantities of wheat per hectare sown, 1660-1809 3.5 Yields per area sown on four farms in the south of Limburg, 1660-1867 3.6 Data on yields per area sown, calculated from the inquiries into agriculture of 1800 3. 7 Data on yields per area sown, 1812-1813 3.8 Yields per area sown in 1812-1813 and 1851-1860 3.9 Weighted average yields per hectare sown in the province of Groningen, per ten-year period, 1821-1910 3.10 Non-weighted averages of yields per area sown on the farm of P.R. Buurma in the Oldambt of Groningen, 1832-1877. 3.11 Estimates of yields in the Netherlands, 1838-1844 3.12 Overview of the figures available on yields per area sown in the Netherlands, grouped for five agricultural regions, 1257-1841 3 .13 Rough estimate of total arable output in the Netherlands, 1300-1850 4.1 Crop yields per province in the Netherlands, 1851-1985 4.2 Yearly variation in yields of main crops (national figures), 1851-1881 4.3 Yearly variation in yields of mean crops, 1974-1993

IO

List of tables

4.4 Yields of six main crops per agro-region, 1946-1975 4.5 Regional variation in main crops, 1866-1870 (classification Staring) 4.6 Regional variation in main crops, 1988-1991 (classification CBS/LEI) 4.7 Agricultural production in the Netherlands guilders, 1851 and 1950 4.8 Total land productivity in the Netherlands, 1950-90 5.1 Wheat yields of the hospital of Saint-Sauveur of Lille, 13th-16th centuries 5.2 Yields of wheat and oats in Hainaut, 15th-16th centuries 5.3 Wheat yields in the French North Sea area at the beginning of the 19th century 5.4 Yields in the departement of Pas-de-Calais at the beginning of the 19th century 5.5 Wheat yields in the Arrondissement of Bethune at the beginning of the 19th century 5.6 Wheat yields in the Pas-de-Calais, second half of the 19th century 5.7 Estimated yields in Hurepoix, 17th century 5.8 Yields in Ile-de-France, 16th-18th centuries 5.9 Wheat yields in the Brie, 18th-19th centuries 5 .10 Wheat yields in Beauce at the end of 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century 5.11 Yields in Normandy, 1729 5.12 Grain yields in Calvados (Normandy, beginning of the 19th century 5.13 Gross and net wheat yields in Ile-de-France, 16th-18th centuries 5.14 Productivity in Normandy, 19th century (in francs/ha of useful agricultural area) 5.15 Labour productivity in Normandy and Artois, 19th century 6.1 Population in Denmark, 1750-1850 6.2 Arable land in Denmark, 1750-1850 6.3 Danish grain production, 1759-1847 6.4 Numbers of livestock, 1757-1838 6.5 Manure in tons, 1770-1838 6.6 Amount of manure per cultivated hectare, 1759-1830s 6.7 Grain exports from the kingdom, 1750-1850 6.8 Grain production per rural inhabitant, 1750-1850 6.9 Productivity by area, estimates, 1759-1838 6.10 Ratio between sown area and number of horses, 1759-1838 7 .1 Estimated urban and agricultural composition of the English population, 1086-1871 7 .2 Estimated agricultural land use in England, 1086-1871 7 .3 Estimated per capita land use in England, 1086-1871 7.4 Estimated composition of the arable area in England, 1300-1871 7 .5 The relative importance of bread grains, brewing grains and pottage and fodder crops in England, 1300-1871. 7.6 Estimated composition of bread grain, brewing grain, and pottage and fodder crop areas in England, 1300-1871 7. 7 Estimated mean grain yields in England, 1300- 1871 7.8 Estimated mean grain yields in England, 1300-1871 7 .9 English grain prices relative to wheat, 1300-1871 11

Land productivity and agro-systems

7 .10 Estimated weighted aggregate grain yields per grain hectare in England, 1300-1871 7 .11 Assumed pattern of grain consumption in England, 1600-1871 7 .12 Estimated kilocalories of grain and potatoes available per head of population per day in England, 1300-1871 7 .13 Prices and price ratios of animals and animal products in England, 1250-1750 8.1 Numbers employed in agriculture in England and Wales, 1840-1939 8.2 Farm power supplies in England and Wales: stationary power, c.1840c.1939 8.3 Farm power supplies in England and Wales: draught power, c.1840-c.1939 8.4 Total farm power supplies in England and Wales, c.1840-c.1939 8.5 Power supplies and productivity change in England and Wales, c.1840c.1939 10.1 Evolution of agricultural techniques: data from Artois and Pas-de-Calais, 1750-1850 10.2 Yields of cereals in Sailly-en-Ostrevent and lsbergues, 1804 and 1814 10.3 Property structure in Northern France, 1780-1842 10.4 Size of holdings around 1780 10.5 Attempt of typology of agrosystemic variations in Northern France at the end of the Ancien Regime 11.1 Households and farms in Dessel and Meigem, c.1850 11.2 Farming land in Dessel and Meigem, c.1850 11.3 Average yields of some crops according to the census of 1846 11.4 Aspects of the farming system in Dessel and Meigem, 1846 11.5 Horses per holding in Dessel and Meigem, 1846 12.1 Average yields per hectare sown in the central part of the Dutch river area, 1360-1569 13 .1 Crop proportions, yields and land use in Zeeland, c.1815 13.2 Rural population density in two districts of Zeeland, 1601-1909 14.1 Wiltshire rotation, end 19th century 15 .1 Estimation of rye production in the area of Alost, 1601-1825 15.2 Growth in number of sheaves by hectare, Middle Ages-19th century 15.3 Model of mineral element abstractions in Zeeland between the beginning of the 17th century and 1815 15.4 Growth evolution, measured in prices and in terms of mineral element abstractions in the Seine-et-Mame departement, 1852-1892 15.5 Estimation of soil productivity with various indices in different departements 15.6 England: wheat yields and mineral abstractions, 1300-1800 15.7 Estimation of soil productivity in the area of Dunkerque with various indices, 1615-1852 15.8 Estimation of soil productivity with various indices in the area of Paris, 1650-1892 16.1 Estimated crop yields and yield ratios for twelve countries, about 1800 16.2 Yield ratios in parts of Prussia, around 1800 16.3 Summary table of estimated crop yields and yield ratios in four broad regions, around 1800

12

List of tables

16.4 The yield of com, wheat and rye in parts of Flanders, 1410/49-1751/95 16.5 Estimated yield ratios for Poland, 16th-19th centuries 16.6 Cropping patterns in six countries, c.1800 16.7 Rough estimates of the number of mouths fed by 100 people working in agriculture, 1500/20-1800

13

Editors preface The international research group CORN has as its principal purpose the study of rural development in the North Sea Area. Every study dealing with economic development needs information about the long-term evolution of the physical output of the area or sector being studied. Therefore, comparative studies of land productivity and rural output are required at an early stage of the research programme. This volume thus represents the vital first stage of the CORN group's work. Any study into long-term developments in land productivity might well take Slicher van Bath as a point of departure. In 1963, this Dutch historian published his epochmaking studies on land productivity, based on yield ratios collected from countries all over Europe. The picture sketched by Slicher van Bath, although still influential, has since been supplemented and amended by a flow of investigations in this field of research. In several respects in uncovering new source material, designing new research methods and compiling long-term statistics - great progress has been made. In the 1970s, scholars focused in particular on building up national or regional overviews, most of which containing an abundance of quantitative material. Studies in this category include the volume on France edited by Goy and Le Roy Ladurie (1972), concentrating on the data from tithe administrations; the study on Winchester yields by Titow (1972); the investigation by Tils-Dieuaide into developments in Flanders and Brabant (1975); the studies of the late H. Neveux on the Cambresis (1974); the volume on the Low Countries edited by Van Cauwenberghe and Van der Wee (1978); the volume concentrated on land productivity in Flanders, edited by Verhulst and Vandenbroeke (1979); and the comparative study by Le Roy Ladurie and Goy (1982), to name some of the most important examples. At that time, most studies seemed to challenge the ideas of 'growth' and 'agricultural revolutions', so much emphasized by Slicher Van Bath and others such as White (1962). The 'histoire immobile' now became the leitmotiv. In the following decade, the attention of scholars working in this field shifted somewhat. Particular progress was then made in methodology, in finding new source material (probate inventories), developing new ways of measurement and also in investigating the causes of developments in productivity. This progress is mirrored in among others - the magnificent volume edited by Campbell and Overton (1991). Scolars also focused again on the dynamics of the 'old' agriculture (Moriceau, 1994; Hoffman, 1996), although most of them did not use concepts such as 'agricultural revolutions' anymore, at least not on the Continent. More recent studies have not only offered new insights into developments in land productivity, but have also pointed out the necessity to place and analyse land productivity more clearly within its agricultural, ecological and socioeconomic context (or within the agrosystem) in which the yields were obtained. This approach seemed to offer possibilities for further advances in our understanding of developments in 15

Land productivity and agro-systems

land productivity. The CORN network provided the necessary 'forum'. This research group not only unites historians from the various North Sea countries, but also geographers and agronomists, a combination which has proven to be enriching, certainly when dealing with a subject like the one at issue here. On 2-4 May 1997, some twenty people, including members of the CORN group and invited specialists, were brought together in Exeter in the UK at a conference hosted by Mark Overton (University of Exeter) and co-organized by Jan Bieleman (Landbouwuniversite it Wageningen) and Bruce Campbell (Queen's University of Belfast). The conference organizers boldly denied the participants the opportunity to present papers, in order to make ample time for discussion. This was done mainly on the basis of pre-circulated material, introduced by speakers who acted as initiators of discussions. This plan resulted in an interesting and sometimes even fierce discussion. The food for thought yielded by this conference and the knowledge united here proved to offer sufficient starting points for a new volume on land productivity. This volume was inspired by the conference, but it is not merely a collection of conference proceedings. Incorporated are not only the revised contributions by participants at the conference, but also some new contributions, several articles brought in by non-participants and the newly written introductions to the various sections. This has resulted or so we hope - in a more or less coherent publication, offering national long-term overviews, case studies into the relationship between agrosystems and land productivity, the state of the art in these fields, and also an outline of the various lacunae and the possibilities for further research. Many people have contributed to this volume. We would like to thank them most sincerely. In the first place, of course, we are grateful to the organizers of the Exeter conference, and especially our host, Mark Overton, who also wrote the introduction to this volume. The working of the CORN group and this conference were made possible by a grant from the Flemish Fund for Scientific Research (FWO), which we acknowledge gratefully. We also would like to thank the participants at the conference, which included (besides the authors in this volume) Eric Buyst, Peter Solar, Tom Williamson and Jane Whittle. By their contributions to the discussion, they have greatly enhanced the final result. We also owe gratitude to the authors of the various chapters of the volume, and particularly to the ones entrusted with the hard task of introducing or concluding the various sections. Catherine Cansot, Els De Vreese, Anne Vitu, Marc Meganck and Steven Rogge, also gave technical support. Last but not least, we are grateful to Christophe Lebbe and Brepols Publishers, who were prepared to publish this book in the new CORN Series. Without the support and co-operation of all these people, this publication would not have been possible. July 1999 Bas van Bavel, Amsterdam Erik Thoen, Gent

16

General introduction Mark I.

OVERTON,

University of Exeter

The importance of agricultural productivity

The role of agriculture has always occupied a central position in the study of the economic history of Europe since the middle ages. Until the mid-19th century, the output of the agricultural sector set the limit on the size of the population, and the efficiency with which farmers produced food determined the size of the non-agricultural population (that is the urban and industrial sectors). Given this, and the fact that agriculture took the largest share of GNP in European countries before the midi 9th century, the analysis of the processes of economic growth must inevitably focus on agriculture, and particularly on transformations in the agricultural sector which allowed growth to accelerate. If we assume that the area from which crops and livestock are produced is fixed, then the only way that total output can increase is by producing more from the same area. Thus it is essential that we understand the determinants of agricultural productivity and how improvements in agricultural productivity can be brought about. This is because, in simple terms, productivity is output per unit of input. In the case of the productivity of land, the input is land and the output is the supply of food and raw materials. If land is fixed, then output can only increase through an increase in land productivity. Most of the contributions to this volume are concerned with land productivity, but since productivity is simply output per unit of input, it follows that many productivities may be defined in the agricultural sector of the economy. Labour productivity is particularly important because it affects the size of the non-agricultural population, and the productivity of capital indicates the efficiency with which investment in agriculture is translated into additional output. For many economists, the ideal measure of productivity is 'total factor productivity' which relates output to all inputs (land, labour and capital). In spite of its obvious importance, it is only comparatively recently that agricultural historians have tackled the issue of productivity directly, rather than implicitly. Path breaking estimates of yield ratios (a partial measure of land productivity) were compiled by Slicher van Bath in the 1960s and other estimates were produced in France and Belgium from the evidence of tithe material in the 1970s (Slicher van Bath, 1963; Goy and Le Roy Ladurie, 1972; Verhulst and Vandenbroeke, 1978; Van Cauwenberghe and Van der Wee, 1978). In the late 1980s, a conference on the issue of European agricultural productivity resulted in a collection of essays dealing with various productivity themes from the middle ages to the 19th century (Campbell and Overton, 1991). This volume had an English emphasis, and it is historians of English agriculture who have made the most recent contributions to the issue of agricultural productivity for both the middle ages and early modem periods, using evidence of productivity to argue that medieval agriculture was not as backward as some histori17

Land productivity and agro-systems

ans believe and to bolster arguments for the nature and timing of the English 'agricultural revolution' (Campbell and Overton, 1993). Discussions of productivity are only now being undertaken for many other European countries, and this present volume presents the results of much new research for five countries across eight centuries. As such, it provides many of the building blocks towards a comparative history of agricultural productivity and takes some preliminary steps towards that goal.

II. Problems of definition and measurement The obstacles in the way of a comparative history are considerable and relate to differences in the conceptualization or definition of productivity; to differing sources available; and to differing contexts and meanings of agricultural productivity which arise from differing historical traditions. These differences apply not simply between countries, but also between different periods within the same country, exacerbating the difficulties of a comparative history. Of all the measures of agricultural productivity, the most favoured has been crop yields per sown acre: that is, the output of a crop divided by the area it occupies, measured as bushels per acre (in England) or quintals per hectare (on the continent of Europe). This is the measure of land productivity which farmers often prefer, and sources are available with which to measure it. As a number of authors in this volume point out, this is far from the best measure of land productivity. A better measure relates output to the arable area including fallow, but since fallow is not valued in many sources it is difficult to calculate. More seriously, such indicators exclude the output of animal products about which relatively little is known. Moreover, we have little information about the yields of other crops such as fruit and vegetables, or about the contribution of food from uncultivated sources such as nuts and berries (Ruwet, 1943). Thus estimates of 'land productivity' which are based only on the evidence from cereals could be a misleading indicator of land productivity as a whole. It is possible for yield per sown area to be rising while yield per arable area is falling (if the fallow area were increased for example). The productivity of livestock is even more complicated because the output of livestock products can be related to the number of animals, to the area of fodder, or to the area of all agricultural land. Historians have shown some ingenuity in measuring crop yields per sown acre, which are rarely directly recorded before the 19th century (English medieval demesne accounts are an important exception), and infer yields from the valuations of growing crops using probate inventories or tithe evidence. More work needs to be done on calculating other indices of land productivity, for example, through the inputs crops require (see Chapter 15), by using prices to estimate yields of livestock produce, and, as Chapter 16 shows, using rents as an indicator of productivity. A further complication is the units in which productivity is measured. Crop yields per sown acre are usually measured in physical quantities which are not always com18

General introduction

parable, and cannot be directly compared with livestock products. Outputs can be equated through prices, or calories; the former are of interest to those calculating measures of GNP for example, while the latter have direct application to Malthusian interpretations of agricultural change. Despite these considerable difficulties, the papers in this volume provide material for the first truly comparative study of land productivity for the countries bordering the North Sea. Although a variety of measures of land productivity are used, data are available for most areas in terms of yields per sown area, and a number of other measurements of land productivity indicate the potential for yet further comparative work.

III. Contextualizing productivity While some authors in this volume present estimates of national averages for land productivity, others are at pains to point out regional diversities. While the country is the most suitable unit for comparisons of national economic performance, it is not necessarily the most useful for understanding why productivities vary. If agricultural history is to be more than the presentation of statistics, it must look to understand both spatial variation and temporal trends in productivity, by placing evidence of yields and output in their environmental, social, and economic contexts. Bieleman (Chapter 9) stresses the importance of different 'agro systems' to the understanding of variations in yields, in other words looking at the complex interrelationships between crops and livestock in farm systems. Agricultural historians in Europe have long recognized both the great variety of types of farming system, and the difficulties of generalizing about this diversity by the imposition of farm classifications. Some of the most sophisticated attempts at this have been carried out for medieval England, but much work remains to be done. While comparable indices of productivity are now available, the next step is to produce comparable definitions and classifications of farming systems to which productivity and yields can be related. This is an ambitious and difficult task, but will form the next step in the research agenda of the CORN network.

19

Land productivity and agro-systems

Bibliography Campbell, B.M.S. and Overton, M. (eds) (1991) Land labour and livestock: historical studies in European agricultural productivity, Manchester. Campbell, B.M.S. and Overton, M. (1993) 'A new perspective on medieval and early modern agriculture: six centuries of Norfolk farming, c.1250-c.1850', Past and Present, 141, pp. 38-105. Cauwenberghe, E. Van and Wee, H. Van der (eds) (1978) Productivity of land and agricultural innovation in the Low Countries (1250-1800), Louvain. Goy, J. and Le Roy Ladurie. E. (eds) (1972) Les fluctuations du produit de la dime, Paris. Slicher Van Bath, B.H. (1963) 'Yield ratios, 810-1820', A.A.G. Bijdragen, 10, W ageningen. Ruwet, J. (1943) L'Agriculture et les classes rurales au Pays de Herve sous l'Ancien Regime, Liege. Verhulst, A. and Vandenbroeke, C. (eds) (1978) Agricultural productivity in Flanders and Brabant 14th-18th century, Ghent.

20

PART I NATIONAL OVERVIEWS

Introduction to part I Paul

GLENNIE,

University of Bristol

In the last few years, major studies of agrarian change in the European past have appeared at a brisk rate. They represent a new initiative in comparative long-run national statistics on agricultural productivity, after thirty years or more in which the field has been dominated by pioneering research, synthesis and comparison, whose very longevity attests its value to agrarian historians (Slicher van Bath, 1963). Inevitably, however, works of the 1960s now appear dated, and are silent on certain topics central to current research agendas. This introduction briefly notes some of facets of debate for which the national overview studies lay important foundations.

I. Among recent studies, five developments are particularly welcome: first, the production of substantial new data; second, a more systematic integration of information on different facets of demography, agriculture, and urbanisation; third, greater awareness of the limitations of particular ways of defining and measuring 'agricultural productivity'; and fourth, attempts to produce statistical series over the very long-run. All these four developments are well represented in the national overviews that follow this introductory discussion. Although such developments significantly complicate the discussions in the chapters that follow, they have nevertheless performed very valuable tasks in placing the whole subject on more secure foundations, and in facilitating the comparative work that forms the core of the CORN project. These geographical comparisons constitute the fifth strength of recent work, and a particular feature of the current collection. The current state of work on different parts of the North Sea area appears uneven: unavoidably so (and likely to remain so), given the very different ranges of sources of information that are available in different areas. To spend just a few minutes sketching out the features of ideal agrarian data (detailed, comprehensive data covering farm inputs, outputs, practices and equipment; similar information on input and processing 'industries', and marketing; weather; demographic conditions for both people and animals; circulations of knowledge and beliefs; amongst other topics, for the full social and geographical range of farmers) is immediately to realise how historical information is always substantially incomplete, and incomplete in different ways for different places and times. Ironically, it turns out to be relatively difficult to analyse 18thcentury trends for some of the regions with the best medieval documentation. Other differences in emphasis among the chapters arise from diverse national historiographies of agrarian change preoccupied with certain concepts or farming practices. Consequently, particular topics have received very uneven attention, and these unevenesses have proved remarkably durable. For example, Anglophone historiography remains pervaded by concepts of 'the Agricultural Revolution' and their terminology. Although disavowals of 'agricultural revolution' concepts have been prominent for over thirty years, the phrase continues to frame current debates.

22

Introduction to part I

International historiographic diversity also raises opportunities, however, and an impressive feature of the national overviews is that they develop the task of addressing one another. The posing of questions usually more prominent in other national historiographies has been fruitful at several points, both methodologically and substantively, as the national studies demonstrate.

II. Measuring land productivity is a complex task, one drastically oversimplified by the traditional preoccupation with yields of cash crop grains, either per sown hectare (physical yield), or per seed (yield ratio). These yields are merely facets, and not necessarily the prime components, of rising (or falling) land productivity. Factors such as changes in fallowing frequency; or in crop rotations; or in modifications to the crop mix, or in yields per sown hectare, all contributed to arable land productivity changes. Given how unusual it is for historical data to provide comprehensive and systematic data on production and inputs, attempts to analyse productivity trends at a national scale face three problems, or rather three facets of a single problem, of generalizability. The first relates to the uneven documentation for different components of land productivity. With information rarely, if ever, available in forms enabling straightforward calculations of overall land productivity, the typical situation is that data are relatively abundant on some elements and comparatively scarce on others. Earlier generations of agricultural historians largely disregarded the problem, treating particular facets, such as yield per seed ratios, as though they equated to total land productivity. They also over-concentrated on the chief food grains at the expense of other crops. Now, the question of how changes in the various components bear on changes in land productivity overall is taken far more seriously. The standard approach in this volume is to draw on diverse sources to produce separate estimates of, for example, land-use and fallowing shares; the crop mix; the yields achieved; the prices received; food values; and so on. These components may then be combined, as in Campbell and Overton's WAGY (Weighted Aggregate Grain Yields per grain hectare, see Chapter 7). This provides a powerful measure of grain productivity, but is sensitive to changes in input data and may change substantially if input data are modified (thus Campbell and Overton in Chapter 7 revise estimates printed in Overton, 1996). Second, there are problems of spatial generalization. In other words, how were national levels of productivity or yields related to those in the particular localities (in some cases on single farms or even in single fields) for which data is available? There is considerable variation both among and within the studies as to whether the 'national' figures do refer to whole countries or selected districts, whether selected by documentary availability or other factors. The juxtaposition of estimates from different sources, from different areas, and/or based on different calculations, may create misleading apparent long-run trends. These are especially problematic issues where figures from a handful of localities or farms appear in tables alongside figures genuinely reflective of national agriculture as a whole. While most contributors are aware of the problem of differences 23

Land productivity and agro-systems

in the representativeness of documented farms, in some cases it is signalled only in passing. Readers need to appreciate both the very widely ranging spatial spread of information underlying the 'national' or 'regional' figures, and that these aggregate trends may be illusory, disguising divergent trends in localities within the national or regional units. Indeed, whether inter-regional productivity differentials diverged or converged as total productivities rose nationally has often been debated. Third, this spatial generalization problem has its temporal equivalent, with two main strands. One is whether data is drawn from whole of the year spans shown in tables, and if not, whether the particular years represented may bias the results, as for Allen's (1988) attempt to calculate grain yields per sown hectare in Oxfordshire (analysed in Glennie 1991). The other issue is that temporal lumping of data - most of the chapters employ periods of between 10 and 30 years - glosses over short-run fluctuations in productivity that can be highly revealing. For example, a 20 per cent increase in land productivity might be produced by a general increase in productivity in every year; or by bumper harvest years becoming even more productive; or by very poor harvests becoming less frequent or even eliminated altogether; or by a general increase in 'normal' years, with neither dearth nor bumper years very much affected. The various possibilities link to changes in farming practices and institutions in rather different ways, not least in relation to farmers' motivations, as shown by Overton (1989) regarding innovations in fodder cropping. The chapters point to generally decreasing annual variability in grain yields, though these remained substantial, as in late! 9th century Netherlands where the best harvest yields are more than double those of the poorest harvests (see Chapter 4). Once again, different crops varied in the pace of long-run reductions in yield variability. Overall, there is a clear pay-off between the desirability of more comprehensive productivity measures, and the range of areas for which such measures are feasible. At the present time, for example, WAGY cannot be calculated for many areas (still less measures which incorporate livestock as well). For all but a few areas, the amassing of relevant information, in the appropriate forms, is incomplete and for many it may be precluded by missing data. The partial availability of relevant sources for many areas means that, until comparatively recent dates, national productivity estimates for early modern countries in the North Sea area will involve a combination of regional productivity studies; continuing use of partial measures like yields per

sown hectare, but more sensitively analysed and interpreted; and econometric modelling based on prices, rents, and land-use shares.

III. The national overviews, even though much of work is still in progress, already do much more than merely recognize a proliferation of components of land productivity. They document multiple routes to higher arable land productivity, through systematic attempts to quantify land use, yields and output. Unevenly at present, to be sure, they attempt to show where, how and by whom, across time and space, higher productivity was achieved. The papers continue the recent trend towards the empha24

Introduction

sis of factors other than technological innovations and intensification, though the latter's' role was at times considerable. Although land use shares, especially of fallow, are often hard to specify before the mid-19th century, land use changes clearly provided major sources of output increases, sometimes singly, sometimes in combination. In particular, the reduction of fallowing is much better documented here than in any earlier studies, most systematically by Dejongh and Thoen's demonstration of highly significant long-run reductions in fallowed land in Flanders. Agrarian historians have long emphasized farmers' willingness to switch arable cultivation towards grains that were higher yielding and/or more profitable, and such trends, often highly differentiated among regions, also receive extensive clarification here, including the roles of industrial and root crops. Several chapters, for example, demonstrate clearly divergent trends per hectare for different grains, and for potatoes. How these affected, and were affected by, other changes in crop rotations also now receives due attention, though data on rotations are often patchy. Likewise, the nature of relationships between productivity and holding size receives particular attention (see Chapters 1 and 7). These clearly varied widely but there is considerable support for higher land productivity having been obtained on small holdings, though at an aggregate level this may merely reflect that holdings were most sub-divided on highly fertile soils. Much remains to be done, but these essays are an important step forward. Comparison among the chapters highlights some puzzles relating to apparent differences in sowing densities, which seem to have been considerable and persistent. Aside from the weed-smothering effect of very high sowing densities, they have received little discussion. Were they routinized customary practices, unthinkingly followed, or part of a more explicit strategy? That sowing rates varied so much and so persistently across northwestern Europe, and are often poorly documented, has important consequences for productivity measurements. Since plant tillering disrupted relationships between sowing rates and yield per sown hectare, this could cause sowing rates and yield per seed ratios to be inversely related, and lead yield-seed ratios and net yields per sown hectare to diverge, poorly documented sowing density variations considerably complicate the identification of key crop productivity changes. Likewise, work on livestock productivity is at an early stage compared with work on crops. Many pitfalls in definitions and measurements are recognised by the authors but, as yet, most findings are presented in rather traditional forms, rather than overall livestock productivity measures. Nevertheless, many contributors incline to endorse Campbell and Overton's emphasis on the dynamism oflivestock sectors, and suggest a variety of productivity gains in early modern pastoral agriculture, partly based on innovatory feeding (fodder cropping and stall feeding), and better animal breeding (oriented to size, or particular products). Several contributors note how accelerating the fattening of stock raised the throughput of animals on farms. Particularly intriguing is comparing of animal and product prices to suggest animals' changing physical character, with pigs and sheep becoming larger before 1750 (see Chapter 7). A general perception that the livestock sector may have been the main locus of rising productivity for much of the period signals a sea change in research priorities for arable-centred European agricultural history. 25

Land productivity and agro-systems

The incorporation of changes in livestock productivities into assessments of overall land productivity are, however, considerably more problematic than for crops. Not only is knowledge of livestock populations and product orientations distinctly patchy, but livestock productivity measures need to incorporate the spatial movement of animals over their life cycles. Spatial divisions of labour in breeding, rearing and fattening, together with daily or seasonal movements in grazing, mean that the relevant area in calculating land productivities of livestock is much less clear than for crops. While this is a smaller problem for large national areas than for smaller scale studies (where animal movements in and out of the study area may be very complex), the averaging of diverse regional and local experiences makes national trends hard to interpret. In particular, it become problematic to link raised productivity to particular, local farming changes. The contributors also venture beyond measuring productivity in terms of the physical volume, productivity being also discussed in terms of value (especially to show the impact of farmers' responses to changing price differentials), ofkilocalories (both to discuss energy availability from changing food supplies and their demographic consequences, in Chapter 8 to reflect on energy potentially available for farming work), or of soil nutrients (see also Chapter 15 towards the end of this volume). There is no guarantee, though, that these different units of expression necessarily changed at similar rates, or even be moving in the same direction at any given time (just as land productivity and labour productivity often diverge). Any simple relation between changes in output volume and changes in diet and nutrition is undermined by the variety of ways in which most farm products could be consumed, involving differential processing. The national overviews thus begin to construct closer connections between long-run agrarian change and the study of food and diet. This potentially has impacts far beyond agrarian history, food studies having become fashionable right across the humanities and social sciences. Many such studies have been overwhelmingly consumption-focused, largely ignoring the changes in land productivity, and price relatives, on which the current studies have much to offer. It is worth reiterating the importance of this work for debates far beyond agrarian history.

IV. The careful synthesis of material from the middle ages through to the 19th, even the 20th, century provides a valuable, and richly detailed, new perspective on longrun dynamics of land (and labour) productivity. The thoughtful comparison of estimates derived from different sources represents a significant advance over more anecdotal comparisons of levels of output, and of various measures of productivity. Perhaps the major findings are to reinstate the later 18th and early 19th centuries as periods of major productivity gains; to recognise complex overlaps among various sources of increased output over time; and to diminish the isolated and self-contained nature of work on England, especially in relation to Flanders and the Netherlands (Hoppenbrouwers, 1998; Clout, 1998).

26

Introduction

The implications of the first two findings create some tensions, related to longstanding and heated debates on 'agricultural revolution' (or alternative labels of unitary transformation, such as 'sustained growth acceleration'). If the multiple sources of increased productivities suggest the bankruptcy of a binary classification of 'revolutionary' and 'stagnating' periods in agricultural production, the re-emphasis on the period post-1750 certainly refuels agricultural revolution debates (exemplified by Overton, 1996a, 1996b; Allen 1999). With much more and better information to hand, however, this debate ought to be more constructive than its predecessor, although the early signs are not very encouraging. Agrarian history, in my view, can ill afford a repeat of the 1960s debate in which proponents argued the importance of 'their' period by denigrating any positive views of change in other periods (for example, the notorious exchange between Kerridge and Mingay in Agricultural History in 1969). The rhetoric of revolution may be unhelpful in characterizing the temporal and spatial complexity of changing productivities emerging from recent work. For example, not all cases of declining land productivity involve 'failure to advance'. It is also desirable both to recognize important early modern productivity increases while, simultaneously, noting their limitations: that English agriculture had both 'succeeded' in feeding a larger population, and 'failed' in the sense that it could no longer do so without large-scale imports. What looks 'revolutionary', though, depends on the point from which the results are inspected. If the history of productivity has to be written as a single revolution, that revolution is surely the 'industrialisation of agriculture' over the last century and a half, which dwarf earlier productivity gains.

v. The overviews already cover a tremendous range of material in very limited space but, as a geographer, I am struck by the low profile accorded to the impacts of environmental change. Given the authors' recognition of the considerable short-run impacts of weather on productivity, it is surprising to see climatic change receiving so little attention as an influence on long-run changes, which are discussed overwhelmingly in terms of economic change and novel agricultural practices (though Priester in Chapter 13 considers productivity changes caused by changing climatic and meteorological conditions). In what directions, and to what extent, did climate and weather contribute to the measured changes in land productivity? Answering such a question would require the use of counterfactual modelling, which the authors have generally avoided. While such work is both complex and potentially misleading, either in model-specification or where meteorological inputs have to be estimated from rather vague information, it is germane to central issues in debates about agrarian change and agricultural 'progress'. These debates, after all, are ultimately about what particular practices, particular institutional arrangements, or particular farm management strategies 'achieved', in terms of food production and productivity (alongside impacts on society, environment, ecology, diet, health and so on). In a literature dominated by claims for what was achieved (deliberately or inadvertently) by particular practices, particular institutions, or commercial marketing, there 27

Land productivity and agro-systems

is still surprisingly little consideration of the changes that would have occurred in the absence of particular strategies, technologies, or institutions. To use the vocabulary of historical demography, agrarian historians can do more to clarify the roles of 'proximate determinants' (including soil characteristics, nutrient status, crop and animal growth dynamics) in connecting land productivity to its 'ultimate determinants' (including tenurial, landholding, distribution and marketing systems).

VI. The range of sources utilized here, and the imaginative ways in which they have been brought to bear on productivity, a topic far removed from their original purposes, is impressive. Even where data is very different for different periods and places, the careful situation of documented information within a more formal framework underpins some very revealing comparisons. Long-run continuities and discontinuities in the ways in which land and labour productivities changed over time and space are being explored in greater detail and depth than ever before. Taken together, these chapters show national and macro-regional chronologies of productivity growth around the North Sea, at least for the major grain crops, were more alike than has often been suggested, focused on productivity improvements in the later eighteenth century. They reinforce long-run accounts of the countries around the North Sea as highly productive compared with parts of eastern and southern Europe (Chapter 16, below). However, it must be stressed that the results are provisional, not definitive, and are likely to be refined and improved over the coming decade. The appearance in print of figures or graphs showing trends in land productivity carries with it the risk of their being uncritically used. In one sense, of course, it is much to be hoped that the risk will be considerable, if that is a consequence of these studies having been widely read! At the same time, though, it is critical that this section's measurements of 'national' productivity levels and trends are recognized as provisional rather than definitive. Readers need also to maintain their appreciation of the implications of near inevitable regional or social bias in the available data, and accordingly, to regard international comparisons, especially for the 17th century and earlier, as approximate. The following national overviews are in many ways as much papers of questions

as papers of answers. Many topics await probing researchers for reformulation, elaboration or refinement. Already, though, the studies have moved debates on agrarian change in the North Sea area to a new level. The authors below recognize the enormous tribute paid by historians' long-continued reliance on pioneering syntheses by Slicher van Bath, and others, but those great and influential works are decisively superseded by the current generation of studies. For the next generation of agrarian historians, the works introduced here will, I hope, combine the roles of maps, signposts, and perhaps also the 'irritating stimulus' to major work in the future.

28

Introduction

Bibliography Allen, R.C. (1988) 'Inferring yields from probate inventories', Journal of Economic History, 38, pp. 117-25. Allen, R.C. (1999) 'Tracking the agricultural revolution in England', Economic History Review, 52, pp. 209-35. Clout, H. (1998) 'Rural Europe since 1500: areas of innovation and change', in R. Butlin and R. Dodgshon (eds), An historical geography of Europe, Oxford, pp. 225-42. Glennie, P. (1991) 'Measuring crop yields in early modern England', in B. Campbell and M. Overton (eds) Land, labour and livestock: historical studies in European agricultural productivity, Manchester, pp. 255-83. Hoppenbrouwers, P. (1998) 'England's agrarian history outside The Agrarian History of England and Wales', NEHA-Jaarboek, 61, pp. 6-14. Overton, M. (1989) 'Weather and agricultural change in England, 1660-1739', Agricultural History, 43, pp. 77-88. Overton, M. (l 996a) 'Re-establishing the agricultural revolution', Agricultural History Review, 44, pp. 1-20. Overton, M. (1996b) Agricultural revolution in England: the transformation of the agrarian economy, 1500-1850, Cambridge. Slicher van Bath, B.H. (1963) The agrarian history of Western Europe, London.

29

1 Arable productivity in Flanders and the former territory of Belgium in a long-term perspective (from the Middle Ages to the end of the Ancien Regime) Guy Dejongh, Catholic University Leuven Erik Thoen, University of Ghent

I.

Introduction

Before the 18th century, data on land productivity are rare in the area studied. Such data as has been preserved and studied tends to be unevenly distributed in geographical terms; that is, there are relatively large amounts of data for some areas and none at all for others. The greatest amount of yield data available cover the western part of Belgium, namely the provinces of East and West Flanders; rather less information on crop yields is available for the other Flemish provinces (Antwerp, Brabant and Limburg) and the Walloon provinces (Hainault, Liege, Luxembourg and Namur). Therefore, this chapter can give only a provisional and incomplete picture of the evolution of Belgian land productivity since the Middle Ages. Most of the available data concern the yields of bread cereals (wheat, rye, maslin and spelt). In this chapter, we will focus on these plants, giving less attention to the yields of spring cereals (barley, oats, buckwheat), animal feed crops (such as legumes, clover and spurry) and industrial crops (such as flax). These latter were, however - as we will see below - very important, especially in Flanders. Two factors complicate the use of such data. First, as a factor of the rural economy, land productivity must be studied within the broader economic context of the area. Elements such as property relations and property structures, population pressure, agricultural prices, market structures and labour input had considerable influence on arable production methods. Other volumes in the CORN Series will deal with those matters. Second, there are considerable deficiencies in our knowledge about agricultural techniques, which determined the level of production. We know \'ery little about such issues as techniques of cultivation (drainage, amount of sowing seed, the intensity of ploughing, sarcling, seed selection, disinfecting), the soil condition, the chronology of reclamation, the amount of manuring and the possible links between manuring practices and quantities of livestock, the intensity of cultivation, and crop rotation systems (especially the importance of fallow and dries in the rotation cycle and the use of soil improving crops such as papilionaceous plants). Thus, measuring production and productivity is of little use when the data are taken out of their broader agricultural context. In this contribution we can of course only to a certain extent deal with the agricultural context. However, it is necessary to compare the yield figures with the proportions of cultivated crops in total arable and sown land. This means that the areas occupied by the different crops can be compared with each other, and with

30

Arable productivity in Flanders and the former territory of Belgium

alternative forms of land use. Our comparison concentrates especially on the relative importance of fallow and temporarily cultivated land (dries), because these types of land had great influence on farmers' incomes. These and other issues can be examined with some precision from late in the early Modern period onward, when data become more plentiful; before that, we must rely on less accurate qualitative information. This chapter is divided in three parts. The first part considers the heuristic problem. Which sources are available for the measurement of land productivity, and how reliable are they? In the second part, we indicate the trends in the development of arable land use. This is followed by an overview of the physical productivity data. For practical reasons, a distinction was made between three periods of time: 10001250, 1250-1600 and 1600-1800. Only in the last period do we deal with the whole of Belgium; before that, as noted, lack of information limits our overview primarily to the Flanders region. In the third part of the chapter, we conclude with some hypothetical remarks on the long-term development of arable productivity in the former territory of Belgium, and especially in Flanders. Figure 1.1

l\lap of the Belgian provinces and the borders of the former County of Flanders

NORTH SEA

GERMANY

Brussels

Brabant Lige Namur /

Borders of currentprovinces

Luxembourg ••••• Borders of the County of Flanders •• :· (15th century)

31

Land productivity and agro-systems

II. Sources for the measurement of arable productivity The three main sources for the measurement of arable productivity during the Ancien Regime are demesne accounts, probate inventories and tithe documents (TitsDieuaide, 1982). The first group of yield data is derived from the accounts of large landowners (nobility and clergy) who exploited their estates directly. These data concern arable yields only in a limited sense, in that they inform us about the physical productivity of a defined area (i.e., a plot of sown land or a farm). In most cases, they refer to the productivity of large farms. One of the central questions is whether the arable production methods of these large farms are representative for the surrounding area. Furthermore, it is difficult to ascertain whether the incomes noted in the accounts are net or gross incomes. Do the recorded incomes include tithes? Was part of the harvest already consumed on the farm before the remainder was brought to the owning institution? Most institutions in the southern Netherlands had switched from direct management of their estates to a leasing system before domain records began to be written down. Consequently, direct records of harvests and sowings are rather scarce. It is nearly impossible to calculate the total arable production on the basis of the these data, since we usually lack information on the area of land under cultivation and/or the amount of seed used for sowing. When we do have this information, we can reconstruct the gross output per unit of sown area (yields per hectare) or/and the gross output per unit of seed sown (yield ratios). Yields per hectare give a much better idea of arable productivity than yield ratios. The optimal yardstick of land productivity, however, is the 'net' yields, defined as the gross yields per unit of sown land minus the amount of seed used for sowing (Overton and Campbell, 1996: 256-260) The second group of data can be found in the administrations of orphan's estates and especially in the probate inventories (Daelemans, 1988b; Schelstraete, 1986; Van der Woude and Schuurman, 1980). A probate inventory is an official registration of the movable property and real estate of a testator drawn up by two civil servants shortly after the death of the deceased, in cases where minors were the rightful heirs. The purpose of the inventory was to protect the minors' share in the inheritance from fraud and excessive claims by the guardian and other beneficiaries. A number of probate inventories have been preserved from the early Modern Period, and some have sur-

vived from the late Middle Ages. If the deceased person was a farmer, the probate inventories recorded his growing and stored crops, livestock and farm equipment. On the basis of this information, we can calculate the crop yields and composition of arable land of all kinds of holdings, often even of very small ones. Fallow and temporarily cultivated lands are difficult to discern in the inventories, making the calculation of arable output a rather complex matter. Some cheap crops (such as grass substitutes) and 'under crops' (clover) are often underestimated by researchers (Overton, 1985). This does not allow the derivation of exact data for yield ratios. As noted above, as well as the probate inventories, some records survive which contain data about crops that were sold in the field, and levels of land productivity can also be derived from these.

32

Arable productivity in Flanders and the former territory of Belgium

Although probate inventories are undoubtedly the richest source for the measurement of land productivity, some limitations remain. The most crucial drawback concerns the geographical distribution of the inventories. They are not available for the whole of Belgium, but were only produced in the former county of Flanders and parts of the duchy of Brabant and Hainault. In addition, arable crop valuations are often lacking or are not precise. Sometimes no indication is given as to the area of sown land, or no distinction is made between the value of different crops sown on the same plot of land. Another problem is that of seasonality, which means that the date of the inventory determines its usefulness for the calculation of average crops yields. The most complete and accurate inventories are made up in the summer months, from May to September. Inventories drawn up in the autumn and spring months are less reliable. As in England, the appraisers applied two different methods to estimate the value of land (Allen, 1988; Overton, 1979, 1990). As well as the real or anticipated sale value of the crop, they often took the costs of production as the reference base. Normally, these cost of production valuations assessed the cost of manuring, labour and seed for sowing. Both kinds of estimates require critical evaluation. The calculated yields are only of an approximate nature. It is possible that they exaggerate the real picture, as the production of straw was included both in the selling price and the estimation price. However, it is more likely that the data actually understate the arable productivity, for three reasons. First, the estimates concern crops on the field before the harvest, so that the harvest costs and the costs of finishing processes such as threshing and transport were not taken into account. The costs of harvesting and threshing have been calculated as being 15 per cent of the estimated value (Mertens, 1970: 76). Second, it is clear that tithes had not been deducted (in Flanders, these were often 1/11 of the harvest). Finally, present-day researchers calculate crop yields by using market prices, while the official appraisers used lower 'administrative' prices. As a consequence, it is conceivable that the reconstructed yield data underestimate the real productivity level by 20 to 25 per cent. The third group of data is to be found in the tithe documents of ecclesiastical institutions. Tithe incomes are certainly not the ideal measure of the economic evolution of the rural world, as Le Roy Ladurie and Goy seemed to judge them (Goy and Le Roy Ladurie, 1972; Le Roy Ladurie and Goy, 1982). As far as the Southern Netherlands is concerned, the tithe series are only useful if they are based upon yearly estimations of the harvest value. Mostly, however, this only happens once we reach the second half of the Early Modern period. By calculating the ratio of the total amount paid by the contractors to the total amount they owed, the tithe records can be used to analyse shortterm fluctuations in arable production (Gutmann, 1978, 1980). Provided that the tithe series cover several centuries and all data are converted into fixed volume units or monetary terms, they give a rough impression of the long-term trends in arable production. However, the tithe documents cannot be used to calculate crop yields. First, the ratio of tithes to the gross output did not equal 10 per cent, but fluctuated between 7 and 10 per cent. Second, the actual area of a tithe domain, and the ratio of crops subject to tithes to total exploited acreage, can rarely be ascertained from the accounts. Third, we are not generally able to know whether there have been any changes in

33

Land productivity and agro-systems

the assessment base or the titheable area. Moreover, the people liable to pay tithes had to carry out a number of additional obligations for the institutions receiving the tithes, ranging from freight services and other chores to supplies in kind. It is impossible to express these obligations in terms of money. Another obstacle was that, in some cases, tithes were farmed out together with other taxes or separate parcels of land. Furthermore, we must bear in mind that possible crop damage due to unfavourable weather conditions or the effects of war was seldom proportionally deducted from the agreed rental. Finally, the novalia, or tithes of recently reclaimed lands or lands outside the customary tithe area, were not included, nor were new crops.

HI. The development of arable productivity 1 111.1.From the High Middle Ages to the 13th century

Importance of cultivated crops and crop rotation systems As in the rest of Europe - with the exception of England - we know very little about the crop rotations in the High Middle ages, the era known as the 'Great Reclamation Period'. Qualitative data show that in the 12th century and a large part of the 13th century, the most intensively cultivated and manured areas were tilled according to a three-course system. Only on the newly reclaimed land of the coastal region did this crop rotation system never become common practice. In large parts of inland and coastal Flanders, the reclamation of new land went together with even less intensive field systems. In inland Flanders, with its poor sandy soils, the arable land of parishes, seigneuries and hamlets was often divided into an 'infield' and 'outfield'. At the beginning, the 'infields' were organized into three-field systems, even on a topographical basis. The 'infields' consisted of the central part of early medieval demesnes, and came into being by reclamation or arose out of the consolidation of smaller plots of land (micro-openfields, or kouters). They received a lot of manure and were permanently under the plough (Thoen, 1992, 1993a, 1994b, 1997). On the less manured and less cultivated outfields, 'up and down husbandry' or convertible husbandry was common. The plots were alternated between being ploughed for a number of years and then being used as pasture land. While the land was under the plough, the cultivation of oats was predominant. This spring cereal was mainly intended for beer brewing.

1 All yield data are expressed in metric measures. For the recalculation of these data in British units of measurement, the following equations have to be used : 1 hectare (ha) = 2.47 acres, 1 hectolitre (hi) = 2.78 bushels and 1 kilogram (kg) = 2.25 pounds. In early nineteenth-century Belgium, 1 hi of wheat weighed 78 kg, 1 hi of rye weighed 71 kg, 1 hi of spelt weighed 44 kg, 1 hl of barley weighed 61 kg, 1 hl of oats weighed 44 kg and 1 hl of buckwheat weighed 63 kg.

34

Arable productivity in Flanders and the former territory of Belgium

On the heavy soils of coastal Flanders, the triple rotation system never broke through. Available sources suggest that alternating husbandry was very popular in this fertile area, which must be attributed to the growing importance of sheep and later cattle breeding. Because of the good quality of clay soils, the division between 'infield' and 'outfield' was never strong; sometimes it did not even exist. A 'topographical shift cultivation' was probably more common. So, partly as an inheritance of postCarolingian economic structures, Flemish agriculture in the 11th and 12th centuries was a quite extensive and regionally specialized production system, dominated by larger farms (Thoen, l 993b, 1997). In the sector of arable production, much land was reserved for the cultivation of extensive and cheaper crops, such as oats. Oats had two variants: the avena dura and avena molla. The last variety was cheaper and less exhausting than the first, and was therefore more popular in an extensive agriculture. Avena molla, primarily used for brewing, disappeared in the course of the later Middle Ages. In the recent embankments of Flanders, varieties of barley were very widespread because of there desalinating effects. Other types of cheap crops were cultivated on a regular basis outside the Flemish region. In particular, there were the poor varieties of 'pork spelt' (epeautre a pores) in the county of Hainault (Sivery, 1972: 454). Better varieties of spelt remained common in many areas of Wallonia and Limburg until the Early Modern period, and even later. In South Namur, the extensive cultivation of terres sarts - a temporary shifting cultivation for two to four years in degenerated woodlands - went hand in hand with the frequent cultivation of oats (Genicot, 1982: 301 ). Nevertheless, from the 11th century onwards the production of better-quality bread cereals such as wheat expanded in some regions, for instance in the area around Brussels (De Waha, 1979: 55). We may conclude that from the second half of the 12th century, and at an accelerated pace during the 13th century, the extensive cultivation methods were replaced by a more intensive husbandry in many areas of the southern Netherlands, especially in Inland Flanders. In other words, contrary to Slicher van Bath's view, the process of intensification was already well underway before the 14th century (Slicher van Bath, 1960, 1962: 197(99).

Crop yields As mentioned above, statistical information on the level of land productivity is rare before the 14th century. The only available figures on pre-1250 yields refer to that region of northern France which was formerly part of the county of Flanders. They were estimated on the basis of demesne accounts of the count of Flanders and concern one harvest year, 1187 (see Table 1.1).

35

Land productivity and agro-systems

Table 1.1

Yield ratios of wheat and oats on three farms in Northern France, 1187

Village Lens Hes din Lillers

Wheat 5.1 10.4 3.8

Oats 3.1 5.7 2.0

Acreage ? ? ?

Source: Thoen, 1993b

One should be cautious in interpreting these yield ratios. Technically, the data are incorrect because they include the same year's sowing seed. As with all incomes from direct exploitation of land, we do not know whether the yields represent the total volume of grain, or are exclusive of certain deliveries that may have taken place before the yields were registered in the accounts (for example, tithes). Moreover, we have to realize that the farms studied here were very large and rather atypical of the area. All this having been said, the data show that yield ratios of more than 10 for bread cereals were possible. In the third quarter of the 16th century (1562-65), the yield ratios of wheat in the neighbouring district of Cambrai reached a similar level (3.3 to 8.7) (Neveux, 1973). The yield ratios of oats remained low (2.0 to 5.7). The low productivity level could be the result of the high consumption of oats by the horses on the farm, or the large amount of seed used for sowing per hectare. On the other hand, it might be that the farms in Northern France were still cultivated on an extensive basis. After all, the relatively high yield of oats was one of the distinctive features of intensive Flemish husbandry. Considering the fact that wheat and oats were the only cereals sown, we can assume that a three-course rotation system was in use, although fallow land was not mentioned in the source.

Conclusion Although we have of almost no statistical data, it is likely that arable production in Flanders grew significantly between the second half of the 11th century and the middle of the 13th century. The yields per unit of land were probably still lower than in the following era, because the production gain was mostly realized through an extension of the cultivated area. The 'infields' were cultivated with a three-course system. Contrary to what is generally thought, less than half of the land in this system was cultivated with crops, due to the short period of fallow before the spring crops were sown. The less fertile and less well-drained lands were not sown or were only temporarily covered with poor crops (via a system of convertible husbandry). It is nevertheless likely that during the same period, and in particular during the 13th century, a process of gradual intensification took place. This development was accompanied by a lessening of the difference between 'infield' and 'outfield', with many soils being gradually manured and thus able to be permanently put under plough. This evolution was possible as holdings were split up and the population increased, so that more labour could be engaged for the tilling of the soil (Thoen, 1999).

36

Arable productivity in Flanders and the former territory of Belgium

111.2. From the second half of the 13th century to the 17th century From the end of the 13th century, and especially from the middle of the 14th century we have more qualitative and quantitative information on arable production. The intensification process, begun in the previous period, progressed gradually.

Importance of cultivated crops and crop rotation systems Data on field and farming systems can be found in sources such as leasing contracts. The farming practices mentioned in these sources did not necessarily correspond with reality, especially when they concern - as they do in most cases - large farms. Temporary contracts from smaller farms are more valuable but are rarely conserved in the public records offices. An exception to the rule is the area of Audenarde, where there are contracts dating back to the late 14th century (Thoen, 1988, II: 697). The rare data about farms under direct exploitation can also be helpful but these again in most cases concern large farms, often situated in the neighbourhood of the towns. While these kinds of farms, often situated very close to the owning institution, were directly managed by those institutions for a long period, the other demesnes were leased out much earlier. The most interesting sources are the probate inventories which remain scarce before 1650. Earlier data are available for the chancelleries of Fumes and Audenarde. The coastal area around Fumes (near France) was dominated by large commercially oriented farms. In the sandy district of Audenarde, there was, from the 13th century, an evolution towards smaller farms. For both regions, the data regarding the composition of the land given over to crops are summarized in Table 1.2. Table 1.2

Crop wheat rye barley oats legumes flax turnips total

Proportion of cultivated crops in chancelleries of Fumes (1550-64) and Audenarde (1541-50) (% of sown acreage)

Fumes 40.0 1.0 10.0 23.0 26.0

100.0

Audenarde 1.5 63.0 1.0 19.0 6.0 8.0 1.5 100.0

Source: Thoen, 1988, II: 698; Vandewalle, 1986, addenda 32-45 The table above shows that wheat was grown particularly on the clay soils of the coastal area (Fumes), while rye became the typical cereal of the sandy and sandy loam areas (Audenarde). In many Walloon areas and in Limburg, spelt remained the most important winter grain. Spelt, or triticum spelta, was an old variant of wheat, intended for baking bread and brewing beer. It required more labour, due to the practice of decortication (Billen, 1989). In a number of less market-oriented regions, spelt

37

Land productivity and agro-systems

remained of great significance until the late 19th century. In other backward regions, like South Brabant and Hesbay, the area occupied by spelt decreased after the later Middle Ages, more rapidly after 1750. Table 1.2 also illustrates that near the coast a large amount of arable land was cropped with barley. Even more striking was the important role played by legumes in Flemish agriculture. Many varieties of beans, peas and vetches were commonly cultivated. Two farms in modern Sealand Flanders, which formed a part of the former county of Flanders, reserved 33 per cent and 50 per cent respectively of their sown acreage for legumes in 1295 (Thoen, 1992). Turnips are another crop that reflects the progressiveness of arable production in Flanders. As animal feed crop, turnips were densely sown on fallow land. Although this practice was known from the 13th century (Van Uytven, 1984), it became only common after the 15th century. It seems that from the 13th century onwards, turnips were also grown as industrial crops for the production of rapeseed oil. They were mostly sown with the spring grains in the three-course rotation. From the beginning of the 15th century, turnips were also cultivated for their tubers, which were used for human consumption; this usage continued to gain popularity among smallholders in the 16th century (Thoen, 1997). In the category of commercial crops, plants used by the burgeoning Flemish textile industry gained momentum after the late 13th century. Dye plants, such as madder, woad and welt, were particularly prevalent (Thoen, 1997). Their importance decreased when the linen industry began to compete more strongly with the luxury woollen industry. The linen industry developed into a flourishing export-oriented cottage industry, and until the 1850s constituted one of the foundations of the Flemish rural economy. The labour-intensive cultivation of flax, which provided the raw material for the linen industry, also expanded considerably after the 14th century, particularly in the rural hinterland of Gent and Alost (Thoen, 1988, II: 980-1020, 1992 b). The 13th century also saw an important shift in arable production methods. Convertible husbandry, the use of long fallow and the separation between 'infields' and 'outfields' were gradually abandoned. The Flemish peasants were able to experiment with new farming methods on the outfields more easily as the restrictions of the three-course system of cultivation were left behind. However, the emergence of a more intensive arable system did not imply that long fallow and temporarily cultivated land (dries) completely disappeared in the period under consideration. Often the average amount of uncultivated land increased when the acreage of arable land expanded, because the newly reclaimed soils were of poorer quality and required therefore more fallow and dries. This is clearly shown in Table 1.3. Indeed, as the table shows, there was a clear increase of 'fallow' and 'dries' in the first half of the 16th century when more land was ploughed.

38

Arable productivity in Flanders and the former territory of Belgium

Table 1.3

Fallow and dries-lands on small holdings in the chancellery of Audenarde, 1347-1567 (%)

Winter cereals after fallow 41.0 33.0 25.0 44.0 54.0 59.0

Period 1397-1409 1410-1419 1420-1429 1430-1443 1460-1472 1562-1567

Dries-land 4.9 1.0 3.1 6.3 11.3 13.2

Source: Thoen, 1988, II: 749, 757 It is clear that the small holdings were giving up the use of long fallow. In inland Flanders, the larger holdings switched to four crop rotations (with stoppelkoren; which is the cultivation of winter cereals two years in a row) in the 14th century, and gave up the use of long fallow probably only from the 17th century (Verhulst, 1956; Thoen, 1997).

Crop yield As mentioned above, from the later Middle Ages crop yields were registered in three kinds of sources: demesne accounts, administrations of the property of orphans, and tithe incomes. Let us start with the data from demesne accounts. Because most of the institutions had adopted the leasehold system when the first accounts appear, direct information on crop yields of individual farms is rather limited. Generally, hospitals and beguinages kept their lands under direct control for a longer period of time than did other institutions (Tits-Dieuaide, 1978: 97-98). Well known is Derville's study of the hospital Saint-Sauveur in Lille, belonging to the former county of Flanders (Derville, 1976, 1987, 1995). His research gives us the following yields, shown in Table 1.4. Table 1.4

Period 1285-1356 1358-1381 1400-1446 1450-1470 1530-1541

Gross and net yields of wheat in the rural area around Lille, 1285-1541 (hi/ha)

Gross yields 20.4 23.8 20.2 22.1 19.8

Net yields 18.6 21.6 18.4 20.1 18.0

Source: Derville, 1976

39

Land productivity and agro-systems

The yields calculated by Derville are spectacularly high. In the second half of the 14th century, the mean gross yields of wheat even exceeded the level of 23 hl/ha. Derville called this region of northern France the 'garden of Flanders', and contrasted the high yields of that area to 'lower developed' inland Flanders (Derville, 1995). At first sight, the hypothesis of Derville seems to be valid. When we compare the cereal yields around Lille with those of the Bruges and Brussels regions (see Table 1.5), we notice that land productivity in inland Flanders was substantially lower than in the actual Departement du Nord. Below, we will see that the theory of Derville does not hold and that the divergence in cereal yield levels is instead explained by the application of different estimation methods. Table 1.5

Cereal yields in the area of Brussels and Bruges, 1359-1496

Region period

Cereal crop

Gross yields (hl/ha)

Net yields (hl/ha)

Average yield ratios (hl)

Bruges area 1359-1367 1359-1390

rye wheat

11.20 11.12-12.29

9.45 8.49-9.55

5.70 4.18-4.48

Brussels area 1450-1499 1450-1471 1450-1495 1449-1496

wheat rye oats barley

18.59 18.07 15.89 18.47

17.23 16.64 14.01 16.55

13.80 12.60 8.45 9.60

Source: Mertens, 1970: 153-62; Tits-Dieuaide, 1975: 315-18

The yields from the relatively rich soils in the neighbourhood of Brussels are higher than those of the demesnes of the St John's hospital of Bruges, but they are still far below those of Northern France published by Derville. As we will argue below, this contradiction is in part only an apparent contradiction, because 'bare productivity yields' of demesnes do not say a lot about real productivity and production capacity. A second important category of sources are the data from administrations of the lands of orphans. Since the 1970s, probate inventories have been used by historians to estimate the areas occupied by and the yields of the different arable crops in Flanders. For the late Middle Ages, the remaining probate inventories are mostly too brief to give accurate details on crop yields. However, for the rural area of Audenarde we have some exceptional information at our disposal. The information is based on selling prices of crops still standing in the fields on lands administered on behalf of orphans. In Table 1.6, the crop yield data for Audenarde are summarized for the period 14101566. The table also contains yield figures derived from probate inventories for the Land of Alost (1600-1795) and the chancellery of Fumes (1550-1644). The districts of Audenarde and Alost belonged to the East Flemish sandy loam region, and were

40

Arable productivity in Flanders and the former territory of Belgium

known for their commercial peasant economy. The main characteristics of this economy were intensive soil cultivation by small holdings and the abundant use of manure. The coastal area of Fumes, with its heavy clay and loam soils, had a completely different farm structure. The majority of holdings were large commercially oriented production units. Table 1.6

Cereal yields in the area of Audenarde, Alost and Fumes, 1410-1795 (hi/ha)

Cereal crop

Gross yields

Net yields

rye/maslin rye/maslin rye/maslin rye/maslin rye/maslin wheat wheat wheat oats oats oats oats

17.19 14.50 16.20 12.62 14.16 17.58 15.40 12.21 16.98 20.80 34.15 25.53

15.59 12.90-13.50 15.10 11.62 13.26 15.98 14.40 11.31 ? ? ? ?

wheat wheat wheat wheat rye rye rye rye rye rye rye rye rye rye rye

13.20 11.18 13.05 14.68 14.37 14.23 17.29 16.22 15.94 19.59 19.73 18.42 21.50 17.19 18.10

12.17 10.15 11.73 13.01 13.34 13.20 16.26 15.19 14.81 18.46 18.60 16.77 19.85 15.54 16.43

rye rye rye wheat wheat

15.72-21.54 ? 17.03 10.00 10.00-11.00

? ? ? ? ?

Region Period

Audenarde area 1410-1449 1454-1494 1501-1519 1520-1539 1541-1566 1462-1479 1511-1535 1540-1566 1435-1436 1459-1492 1510-1539 1540-1566

Land of Alost 1601-1650 1651-1700 1701-1750 1751-1795 1626-1635 1641-1650 1656-1665 1676-1685 1696-1705 1716-1725 1736-1745 1756-1765 1776-1785 1786-1795 1805-1815

Chancellery of Furnes 1615-1619 1620-1624 1625-1629 1550-1584 1584-1614

41

Land productivity and agro-systems

1615-1619 1620-1624 1625-1629 1630-1634 1635-1639 1640-1644 1615-1619 1620-1624 1625-1629 1630-1634 1635-1639 1640-1644 1615-1619 1620-1624 1625-1629 1630-1634 1635-1639 1640-1644

wheat wheat wheat wheat wheat wheat oats oats oats oats oats oats barley barley barley barley barley barley

11.22-13.66 9.80-11.13 8.85-10.87 7.46-10.01 11.89-11.39 9.11-11.81 22.80-25.39 17.87-36.36 23.49-25.57 28.35-30.02 26.81-31.38 30.59 25.95 27.64 31.86 21.35 30.41 27.28

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

Source: Thoen, 1988, II: 813; Vandenbroeke and Vanderpijpen, 1978: 166; Vandenbroeke, 1979: 385-86; Vandewalle, 1979: 369-76; Van Isterdael, 1983: 153-55 In Flanders, the average yields of bread cereals varied remarkably. The coastal area (such as the Chancellery of Fumes) seems to produce slightly lower gross yields per unit of land (wheat: 10-13 hl/ha) than does inland Flanders (wheat and rye: 12-17 hl/ha). The net yields (taking into account the amount of seed used for sowing) reveal even a greater difference, with yields of less than 10 hl/ha in the coastal area and 11-16 hl/ha in inland Flanders. Northern France records the highest net yields, with more than 20 hl/ha. Even taking into account the fact that the yield data based on demesne incomes and probate inventories tend to be undervalued (by about 20 per cent), the difference remains clear. Does this mean that Derville was right in subdividing the former county of Flanders into a northern part with relative low crop yields (East and West Flanders) and a southern part with higher yields (Departement du Nord in France) (Derville, 1995)? In our view, his opinion exaggerates the historical reality. By using crop yields, Derville overestimated arable productivity, as yields are related to the frequency and intensity of soil cultivation. For a good understanding of the evolution of arable productivity, we have to look at the amount of fallow and convertible land (dries) in the rotation system. In a region (or on individual farms) where a high proportion of land consisted of fallow and dries, it is perfectly possible that farms with a long period of fallow realized higher cereal yields per sown area, but lower yields per unit of arable, than farms with more efficient systems of crop rotation and thus a shorter period of fallow. In the loamy territory of northern France, so much incensed by Derville and Morineau (1977), long fallow and convertible husbandry remained much more impor-

42

Arable productivity in Flanders and the former territory of Belgium

tant than in the intensively cultivated regions of inland Flanders. Indeed, the smallholders in Flanders and Brabant steadily reduced the proportions of land given over to fallow and dries. Therefore, it is not surprising that the growth of cereal production in the 16th century went hand in hand with lower yields per hectare of sown land. Historians regard the early elimination of fallow and dries as one of the greatest advantages of Flemish agriculture. It increased agricultural acreage and encouraged the diversification of arable production, including the general diffusion of fodder and industrial crops. In areas with a predominance of larger holdings, like coastal Flanders and several Walloon areas, crop yields per hectare were rather low. Here we must make a distinction between districts with market-oriented farming systems and favourable ecological conditions (maritime Flanders) and closed areas with a more autarchic agriculture (Wallonia). Due to a lack of commercial stimuli, traditional field systems with a large proportion of fallow land survived longer in Wallonia. In most southern territories, double and triple rotation system and other archaic field systems were still full in force at the beginning of the 19th century. From an economic point of view, the differences in yield levels were caused by a difference in property structures and ecological circumstances. Even in inland Flanders with its small peasant holdings, fallow remained longer in use on large estates than on smallholdings. Let us conclude these comments on yields per acreage with the following remarks. Comparisons are often too much restricted to yields of bread cereals. However, the yields of spring cereals also offer interesting insights. First, they show less regional differences. Second, the average yields of these crops were extremely high. The gross yields of barley and oats, for instance, amounted to 25 hl/ha and more. Due to the labour-intensive tilling of the soil and intensive manuring, yields of cereal crops were much higher in Flanders than in the rest of Europe. This does not mean that manuring was a yearly, or even a three-yearly, practice. From the 15th to the 17th centuries, the fields in most areas were only dressed with manure every five to six years (Vandewalle, 1986: 170, Thoen, 1988, II: 792-803). A third series of sources for the study of land productivity are tithe incomes. Figure 1.2 shows a selection of four long-term tithe series in four completely different areas. They include the period from the 14th century to the end of the 18th century. One series concerns the sandy loam region of East Flanders (Sint-Denijs-Boekel), while the others refer to southwest Brabant (Leerbeek), south Limburg (Hees-Vlijtingen) and the territory of Cambrai (northern France). The tithe incomes in money were converted in quantities of grain, which neutralized the inflationary price effects.

43

Land productivity and agro-systems

Figure 1.2

Tithe incomes in four areas of the southern Netherlands, 1350-1800 (1630-1639= 100)

350 ~HeesNlijtingen ~Leerbeek

300 ~St.-Denijs-Boekel

0

Cambresis

250

200

150

~ 0

100

v

D

50

6

0

Source: Daelemans, 1978: 36-41 (Leerbeek); Jansen, 1979: 298-99 (HeesVlij tingen); Neveux, 1972: 63-66 (Cambrai); Thoen, 1979: 175, 189-92 (Sint-Denijs-Boekel) 2 We have noted that much caution is needed when interpreting the data from tithe series. Nevertheless, tithes do reflect the medium-term crises in the region caused by military conflicts. The agricultural development of the southern Netherlands was 2

For Sint-Denijs-Boekel, the tithes were leased out for several years until 1576, often in money,

which is a disadvantage for the liability in terms of production; after that date they were 'sold' to the highest bidder, based on an estimation of crop yields 'on the field'. The tithes of HeesVlijtingen (Jansen, 1979: 298-99), although leased out, were in the sources expressed in 'pares', which means that the owner of this incomes, the Sint-Servaaskapittel of Maastricht, expressed the 'equivalent' of the leased incomes in kind (Jansen, 1979: 10), which probably influenced the management strategy of this institution to levy the tithes as good as possible. The tithes of Leerbeek seem (Daelemans, 1978a: 36-41) to be levied on all kind of grains (even rapeseed, coleseed and flax seed, which is quite exceptional). Although these tithes were levied with short-term leases (3, 6, 9 or more years), they were levied in kind (Daelemans, 1978b). Daelemans converted all the levies to rye values. The tithes of the Chapter of Saint-Gery in Cambray were leased out and levied in kind. Here, we have used only the incomes from wheat, as no other winter cereal was levied (Neveux, 1972: 63-66).

44

Arable productivity in Flanders and the former territory of Belgium

disturbed by the revolt against Maximilian of Austria at the end of the 15th century, the religious wars in 1570-85, the Thirty Years War (1618-48), the invasions of Louis XIV (1667-97) and the Spanish War of Succession (1701-14) (Daelemans, 1988a; Van der Wee, 1978; Vandewalle, 1980). It is much more dangerous to use the tithes for long-term analysis, as the following example shows. Two of the four tithe series demonstrate a relative growth in the first three quarters of the sixteenth century. In Sint-Denijs-Boekel, however, the tithes followed a downward trend; this was the result of the doinainal administration policy of the owner of the tithe, the Abbey of SintBavo, which favoured its farmers in this period of relative economic prosperity (Thoen, 1988, I: 300). Indeed, alternative sources such as probate inventories and leasing contracts show a clear increase in cereal cultivation in that area of East Flanders (Thoen, 1988, II: 695-98). The steep rise in tithe revenues in South Limburg in the same period is equally suspect and may be caused by an underestimation of the previous period, an extension of the titheable area or other causes. In any case, it is likely that tithes generally underestimate rural production and increases in production over the very long term. In most areas, they seem to have become more reliable during the course of the 18th century (due perhaps to better and more efficient levying) when almost all tithes commonly indicate a clear growth in production. Conclusion In many areas, the division between 'infield' and 'outfield' disappeared during the 13th and 14th centuries. In the Campine and parts of Wallonia, however, the common wastelands (such as heath and terres sarts) fulfilled an important economic function until the end of the Ancien Regime. In the densely populated and highly urbanized regions of Flanders a mixed farming system arose, based on small peasant farming and a rich variety of crops. The most fundamental changes occurred in the 13th and at the beginning of the 14th centuries. In the southern part of the country, where there were larger farms, the extensive farming system was still widespread. In several areas the possibilities for reclaiming new land became restricted. The changes in property and power structures favoured the subdivision of farms and promoted the intensification process and evolution towards a 'commercial peasant system'. In this system, agriculture was based on profits earned by selling through the available market facilities (Thoen, 1999). Yields and yield ratios reached unprecedented levels. Nevertheless, we have to put these data in perspective and reduce the extent of local yield differences. Much more important was the progressive reduction of fallow and convertible husbandry. Especially in the more recently reclaimed lands, the former outfields gave more space for new experiments in crop rotation systems than did the former infields. Unfortunately, methods of measuring the structural changes of the total output, such as tithe series, are not very reliable. Nevertheless, progressive increases in agricultural output could still be achieved after the 16th century, even in the most intensively cultivated areas, as we will demonstrate below.

45

Land productivity and agro-systems

111.3. From the second half of the 17th century to the end of the Ancien Regime Importance of cultivated crops and crop rotations With respect to the 17th and 18th centuries, a large amount of data are available for the analysis of the arable production systems. Most of the studies are regionally orientated. A good example of such research is Van Isterdael' s article on the Land of Alost (Van Isterdael, 1988). Table 1. 7 shows the results of his estimates on the distribution of arable crops. Table 1.7 Period

1605-1655 1656-1675 1676-1685 1686-1695 1696-1705 1706-1715 1716-1725 1726-1735 1736-1745 1746-1755 1756-1765 1766-1775 1776-1785 1786-1795

Distribution of arable crops in the 'Land of Alost', 1605-1795 (% of land sown) bread cereals

spring cereals

industrial (flax)

74.0 78.0 73.0 68.0 70.0 58.0 59.0 50.0 49.0 44.0 47.0 45.0 42.0 43.0

22.0 9.0 12.0 7.0 10.0 10.0 9.0 11.0 10.0 10.0 7.0 7.0 11.0 9.0

2.5 4.0 3.5 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 5.0 4.0 5.5 5.5 6.0 4.5 5.0

crops oilplants (dyes/ (including hops) turnips and rapeseed) 1.0 1.5 0.5 0.5 1.0 1.5 1.5 1.5 0.5 3.0 3.5 8.5 1.0 6.0 0.5 6.0 8.0 0.5 6.0 6.5 0.5 6.0

fodder crops

1.0 7.5 10.5 17.0 11.5 22.0 22.0 25.5 28.0 33.5 31.0 31.5 31.5 32.0

potatoes

0.5 1.5 2.0 3.5 4.0 5.5

Source: Van Isterdael, 1988: 276.

We also have data for the area south of Bruges. These data do not give the amount of the cultivated area but the amount of records of each crop in the inventories (see Table 1.8).

46

Arable productivity in Flanders and the former territory of Belgium

Table 1.8

Crops cultivated in the area south of Bruges, 1651-1680 (% of probate inventories recording the crop)

period

1651-1680

1681-1710

1711-1740

1741-1770

1771-1795

% of 17

% of 12

% of 82

% of 110

% of 116

94 29 0 0

75 25 0 0

61 26 0 0

72 33 0 0

78

29 29 6

33 42 0

18 13 7

21 24 2

18 18 0

0 29 12 41 100

8 17 0 42 58

4 24 0 33 28

1 23 1 23 33

2 26 0 20 37

18 0 0 0

25 0 0 0

12 0 2 0

19 1 5 0

18 3 3 2

0

8

22

41

57

bread cereals rye wheat maslin barley spring cereals" buckwheat oats beans and fodder cropsb spurry clover vetches roots turnips industrial crops flax coleseed flaxseed henna potatoes

46 3 0

Source: Demaegdt, 1984 Note: a Some are used as fodder crop b Some are used for human consumption

The research of Dejongh and Goossens, which adopted a national approach, informs us about the evolution of arable production and productivity in the whole of Belgium for the period 1750-1850 (Dejongh, 1999; Goossens, 1992). Their estimates of the composition of the cultivated area are brought together in Table 1.9.

47

Land productivity and agro-systems

Table 1.9

Composition of cultivated area in Belgium, per province (ha and % )

Province

Year

cereals (ha)

industrial crops (ha) 1,423 89.3 78.8 4,068 4,358 71.5

1.3 3.7 3.9

fodder crops (ha) 8,686 11,329 15,124

8.1 10.3 13.7

1,348 1.3 7,875 7.2 12,123 10.9

106,827 109,700 110,771

%

%

potatoes (ha)

%

total (ha)

%

Antwerp

1760 1812 1846

95,370 86,428 79,166

Brabant

1760 1812 1846

149,898 143,462 141,953

82.4 71.8 66.9

8,416 12,039 9,957

4.6 6.0 4.7

21,262 34,261 39,612

11.7 17.1 18.6

2,316 10,105 20,585

1.3 5.1 9.8

181,892 199,867 212,107

Limburg

1760 1812 1846

78,128 74,120 68,219

89.1 84.0 75.9

1,073 1.762 1,970

1.2 2.0 2.2

7,640 9,331 12,170

8.7 872 3,012 10.6 7,502 13.5

1.0 3.4 8.3

87,713 88,225 89,861

East Flanders

1760 1812 1846

124,061 115,920 124,895

70.3 62.3 63.0

16,240 25,160 17,091

9.2 13.5 8.6

28,106 24,971 31,653

15.9 13.4 16.0

7,944 4.5 20,011 10.8 24,459 12.4

176,351 186,062 198,098

West Flanders

1760 1812 1846

118,895 101,729 113,180

74.1 58.2 59.8

14,870 27,067 19,444

9.3 15.5 10.3

23,414 32,908 40,617

14.6 18.8 21.4

3,357 13,061 16,032

2.1 7.5 8.5

160,536 174,765 189,273

Hainault

1760 1812 1846

157,771 143,228 138,709

84.0 72.3 66.1

4,914 9,700 11,262

2.6 4.9 5.4

23,396 40,921 48,180

12.5 20.7 23.0

1,638 4,100 11,749

0.9 2.1 5.6

187,720 197,949 209,900

Liege

1760 1812 1846

81,978 76,774 82,886

88.6 79.0 70.4

0 1,294 1,023

0.0 1.3 0.9

9,670 13,739 23,799

10.5 891 5,420 14.1 9,964 20.2

0.9 5.6 8.5

92,539 97,227 117,672

Namur and 1760 Luxembourg 1812 1846

133,078 124,513 144,187

0 97.6 81.1 890 1,923 73.2

0.0 0.6 1.0

2,659 18,285 33,115

2.0 595 9,870 11.9 16.8 17,679

0.4 6.4 9.0

136,332 153,558 196,904

BELGIUM

939,179 866,175 893,195

83.1 71.7 67.4

46,937 81,980 67,027

4.2 6.8 5.1

124,834 185,744 244,270

11.0 18,962 15.4 73,454 18.4 120,093

1.7 1,129,912 6.1 1,207,353 9.1 1,324,586

1760 1812 1846

Source : Dejongh, 1999: 108-111; Goossens, 1992: 84.

From the 17th century, and in part even from the late 16th century, the variety of crops sown increased significantly. New crops like clover and potatoes were grown and integrated into better rotation systems (Vandenbroeke and Vanderpijpen, 1980: 189-91). As a result, the arable production system became less dependant on the cultivation of bread cereals. Between 1760 and 1846, for instance, the area occupied by cereal crops declined from 939,200 hectares (or 83 per cent of the cultivated area) to 893,200 hectares (or 67 per cent). 48

Arable productivity in Flanders and the former territory of Belgium

Within the category of bread cereals, wheat gained importance at the expense of rye and spelt (Billen, 1989). The decreasing number of harvest failures was partly responsible for this evolution. In the 16th and 17th centuries, buckwheat became popular in areas with sandy soils such as the Campine region. This spring crop produced rich harvests and was consumed by both humans and animals. Although buckwheat was introduced in the southern Netherlands in the late Middle Ages, it was not cultivated on a large scale before about 1500-50. After a period of expansion, the production of buckwheat declined again in the second half of the 18th century. The potato increasingly replaced buckwheat in the human diet. As far as animal feed crops are concerned, clover was the most innovative crop. In international literature, the cultivation of clover has often been seen as the driving force of agricultural change (Chorley, 1981; Overton, 1996). Clover was probably introduced into Flemish agriculture during the 16th century, but was only registered in the sources from the third decade of the seventeenth century (Vandewalle, 1986: 210; Van Isterdael, 1988: 289). Clover was first sown on former dries-lands and was used for pasture. Slowly, but especially from the second decade of the eighteenth century, it was integrated as a main crop in the normal rotation scheme. In most cases clover was sown under a cover crop, mainly winter cereals and flax. After the cover crop had been harvested, the clover provided grazing. The importance of clover can hardly be overestimated. Together with other fodder crops, such as spurry, turnips, carrots and leguminous plants, it contributed strongly to the elimination of fallow and the primitive triple rotation scheme. Furthermore, it increased the supply of manure by enriching the nitrogen content of the soil and promoting the general adoption of stall feeding. By raising the amount of cattle field, it also improved the production of meat and milk (Goossens, 1992: 77-78). In Belgium, the area cultivated with fodder crops increased sharply: in 1760, they only occupied 124,800 hectares (or 11 per cent of sown arable), compared to 244,300 hectares (or 18 per cent) in 1846. The link between the cultivation of clover and disappearance of fallow is clearly presented in Figure 1.3.

49

Land productivity and agro-systems

Figure 1.3

Fodder crops and the reduction of fallow in the Land of Alost, 17th-18th centuries.

35

30

-0-% fodder crops (including

25

clover) -0-%fallow

20

15

10

16051655

16561675

16761685

16861695

1696!705

1706!7!5

17161725

17261735

17361745

17451755

!756!765

17661775

17761785

1786!795

It is likely that the frequency of mentions of clover and spurry in the sources underestimates their real extent; the same is true for the various species of grass, and also for another important fodder crop, turnips. Turnips are extremely difficult to study because they are not mentioned in many statistics (Jaspers and Stevens, 1985). As cultivated land in Flanders became scarce and the amount of fallow gradually disappeared, turnips were more and more frequently sown as catch crops. Although catch crops were already known in the Middle Ages (Van Uytven, 1984), they made a decisive breakthrough in the course of the 18th century. In the middle of the previous century, about 25 per cent of the arable acreage in East and West Flanders was planted with catch crops, mainly rape. It is also possible that rape became increasingly used for foddering instead of for human consumption (see also Chapter 11).

As an industrial crop for the production of oil, turnips were by the sixteenth century being replaced by coleseed, which generated higher yields. Gradually coleseed became the most important oleaginous plant (Lindemans, 1952, II: 270). The area planted with other industrial crops, such as flax and tobacco, also increased during the 18th century. The increasing success of industrial crops increased the productivity of arable land in terms of money and stimulated the commercialization of the agrarian economy. However, this development weakened in the first half of the 19th century. In response to the structural crisis of the rural linen industry in Flanders, farmers abandoned the cultivation of market or 'cash' crops, particularly flax. 50

Arable productivity in Flanders and the former territory of Belgium

One of the most crucial changes in the farming history of the 18th century was the introduction of the potato. In the past three decades, much research has been done on this plant (Vandenbroeke, 1992). The potato was being cultivated as a field crop at the end of the 17th century, at least from 1670 onwards. West Flanders, Luxembourg and Liege were the first regions where the potato was found. In Liege and Luxembourg, this labour-intensive crop was only grown on a large scale after the food crisis of 1740. From West Flanders the potato spread to East Flanders (1710), Brabant (after 1720) and the rest of Belgium (after 1740). Because of its high nutritional value, the potato gradually replaced cereals. The daily menu of smallholders and poor people became so much dominated by potatoes that the per capita consumption of bread grain decreased from 0.88 litres in 1740 to 0.62 litres in 1790 (Vandenbroeke, 1969, 1975). Belgium developed into one of the most potato-oriented areas of northwest Europe. Nevertheless, the use of fallow in crop rotations remained common practice in many regions, particularly in Liege, Luxembourg, Namur, South Hainault and Walloon Brabant (Dupont, 1983; Pirotte, 1974; Ruwet, 1957). In these areas, double and triple crop rotations, leaving one-third to one-half of the arable land fallow, were still generally applied until the 19th century. Furthermore, wastelands or terres sarts, which produced one cereal crop every ten to thirty years, still covered a large part of total agricultural land (Billen, 1975; Dejongh, 1996a). Technological progress was seriously hampered by the poor soil condition, the low population pressure, the deficient transport network and institutional constraints, such as the persistence of communal property rights and feudal obligations. In the provinces of Namur and Luxemburg around 1760, 29 per cent and 35 per cent respectively of the arable area consisted of fallow land (Dejongh, 1999). In East and West Flanders, fallow and dries were already reduced to a minimum in the course of the 17th century. In the middle of the next century, fallow completely disappeared in this region. Only on the large estates in the heavy clay lands did some fallow land continue to be used. In the desolate and sandy Campine region, convertible husbandry and the use of heath for sod manuring on the 'infield' survived until the late 19th century and even later (Vanhaute, 1992).

Crop yields Because of the generalization of the leasing system, information about crop yields based on documentation from farms under direct exploitation is more scarce than in the previous period. We are best informed about the area of Lou vain. The Great Beguinage of Lou vain did not give up farming its own land until the late date of 1726, but the data are difficult to interpret (Tits-Dieuaide, 1978). The yield ratios on a farm of about 32 hectares seemed to have risen in the early modern period compared to the late Middle Ages, and were especially high in the first half of the 16th century. The yield ratios of rye, barley and oats rose from 6.2, 7 .1 and 4.2 in the 15th century to 6.9, 9.4 and 7.2 between 1502 and 1726 (Tits-Dieuaide, 1978: 99). The information based on probate inventories is of course much richer than the scarce information concerning direct managed farms, and can be compared with cen51

Land productivity and agro-systems

suses of the 19th century. Many series used for the previous period contain also information that covers this period (see Table 1.6 above). Most rural studies concerning the 17th and 18th century only described the evolution at the regional level. Dejongh and Goossens have reconstructed a series of yield estimates for all provinces within the actual Belgian territory and this for the period 1750-1850. Their data on gross yields of grain, industrial crops and potatoes are shown in Tables 1.10 and 1.11. Table 1.10

Cereal crop yields in Belgium, per province, 1760-1846 (hi/ha and index: 1760 =100)

Province

year

rye (hi/ha)

wheat (hi/ha)

Antwerp

1760 1812 1846 1760 1812 1846 1760 1812 1846 1760 1812 1846 1760 1812 1846

12.5 16.7 18.3 12.7 13.2 16.7 11.5 14.4 15.4 16.2 19.9 21.6 13.3 16.6 21.2

18.9 100 24.0 127 20.3 107

13.7 100 15.5 113 17.8 130 11.8 100 12.2 103 16.4 139 11.0 100 12.7 115 17.2 156 14.7 100 18.8 128 20.0 137 13.4 100 15.4 115 20.1 150 14.9 100 18.0 121 19.7 132

16.7 17.9 10.3 12.5 19.3 11.5 14.0 16.9 13.3 16.4 18.7

13.5 17.4 7.0 7.8 14.8 12.0 12.6 15.9 12.3 14.1 17.7

Brabant

Limburg

East Flanders West Flanders Hainault

1760 1812 1846 Liege 1760 1812 1846 Luxembourg 1760 1812 1846 1760 Namur 1812 1846 1760 Belgium 1812 (total) 1846

100 134 146 100 104 131

100 125 134 100 123 133 100 124 159

100 121 187 100 122 147 100 123 140

100 111 211 100 105 133 100 115 144

maslin (hi/ha)

buckwheat (hi/ha)

barley (hi/ha)

oats (hi/ha)

16.5 19.0 11.8 12.4 17.1

100 105 146

100 108 144 100

18.7 15.9 17.8 21.1 13.5 17.7 20.0

100

20.0 18.9 -

22.7 23.1 13.0 14.1 18.7 11.8 15.5 16.7 16.0 19.8 21.2 12.3 15.9 23.6 13.0 16.0 19.0

142 100 124 133 100 129 191 100 123 146

20.2 25.0 29.9 20.3 21.6 28.3 11.0 13.1 24.7 22.5 23.0 32.9 23.4 29.5 41.1 20.0 27.1 36.3

22.3 29.7 36.2 19.6 22.0 33.3 14.0 17.6 27.6 25.8 26.0 36.8 25.2 32.7 37.1 21.1 28.0 38.8

14.8 19.0 -

18.8

-

18.1 19.9 -

25.7 26.1

8.6 15.4 -

5.5 13.3

9.0 100 10.0 111 17.2 191

18.8 13.7 16.0 19.4

-

20.4

-

100 116 141

13.2 16.3 19.8

100 123 151

10.6 13.4 24.6 20.0 26.9 25.7 19.8 24.5 32.5

112

133 100 131

148

Source: Dejongh, 1996b: 217; Goossens, 1992: 87

52

131

17 .5 23.5 18.1 21.3 30.1

100 124 148 100 106 139 100 119 225 100 102 146 100 126 175 100 136 182

100 118 166

100 133 162 100 112 170 100 126 197 100 101 143 100 130 148 100 133 184

100 126 232 100 135 129 100 124 164

Arable productivity in Flanders and the former territory of Belgium

Table 1.11

Gross yields of industrial crops (flax, coleseed) and potatoes in Belgium, per province, 1760-1846 (kg/ha and hl/ha; index: 1760 = 100)

province

year

Antwerp

1760 1812 1846

400 504

1760 1812 1846

308 400 496

Brabant

Limburg

1760 1812 1846

flax (kg/ha)

100 130 161

coleseed (hl/ha)

potatoes (hl/ha)

16.2 20.3

120.0 153.7 230.4

100 128 192

18.7 17.4

100.0 122.6 197.1

100 123 197

100.0 139.3 184.3 141.2 158.8 202.4

100 139 184 100 112 143

121.9 154.0 218.9

100 126 180 100 120 184

1760 1812 1846

431 404 321 450 641

100 140 200

18.0 21.l

West Flanders

1760 1812 1846

323 400 584

100 124 181

15.1 16.4 22.9

Hainault

1760 1812 1846

320 431 564

100 135 176

23.6 19.2

100.0 120.0 184.1

1760 1812 1846

350 444

19.4 15.5

119.7 233.2

1760 1812 1846

250 306

3.2 9.6

98.0 105.0 184.1

100 107 188

1760 1812 1846

250 467

10.0 12.8

100.0 105.0 159.0

100 105 159

1760 1812 1846

318 420 571

110.5 132.3 195.0

100 120 177

East Flanders

Liege

Luxembourg

Namur

Belgium (total)

7.5 14.8

100 132 180

15.1 16.4 22.9

100 108 152

100 108 152

Source: Dejongh, 1996b: 218; Goossens, 1992: 89-90

In the second decade of the 17th century, when most areas had recovered from the cruel religious wars, net crop yields reached again the levels of the 16th century. Sometimes they even surpassed them. The adoption of improved rotation systems, the introduction of new arable crops, and the more intensive tilling and manuring of the 53

Land productivity and agro-systems

soil meant that the extension of the cultivated area was no longer accompanied by a decrease of average yields per sown unit of land. Seen in a long-term perspective, the cereal yields showed an upward trend in the 1650s. They jumped up to a higher level during the first two decades of the 18th century and rose again at the beginning of the 19th century. 3 In the East Flemish sandy region, for instance, the gross yields of rye went up from 12-17 hl/ha between 1400 and 1770 to 18-20 hl/ha in the 18th century (Dejongh, 1996b). The national estimates of Dejongh and Goossens show that the mean cereal crop yields in Belgium increased by 16-24 per cent during the second half of the 18th century. With the exception of rye, the productivity of bread cereals saw a less pronounced increase (16-17 per cent) than that of buckwheat, barley and oats (18-24 per cent). This trend continued through the first half of the 19th century. An inter-regional comparison points to a strong continuity during the period 1760-1850. Around 1760, as in the first half of the 19th century, the progressive area of East Flanders and Hainault showed the highest yields per hectare. The provinces of Antwerp, Brabant and West Flanders occupied a middle position. These regions recorded a mean rye and wheat yield of 12-13 bl/ha. At the bottom of the ranking were the infertile southern regions (Luxembourg and Namur) and the northeast periphery of modern Belgium (Limburg). In these provinces, cereal production failed to reach a productivity margin of 12 bl/ha for rye and wheat, or of 20 hl/ha for oats and barley. As discussed above, the cereal productivity data are in clear concordance with the different arable farming systems around 1760. In the provinces with the lowest cereal yields (especially Luxembourg and Namur), the agricultural economy can be characterized as relatively extensive (Billen, 1975: 295-311). As mentioned, agriculture in the provinces with high average crop yields per sown area, in particular East and West Flanders, was characterized by intensive soil cultivation and efficient crop rotation systems (see also Chapter 11). When examining the relative increases in cereal productivity between 1760 and 1810, we notice that the evolution of cereal yields was strongly diversified by region. Of the provinces with the highest productivity levels, Hainault was the most dynamic. In East Flanders, on the other hand, oat and barley yields had reached a temporary ceiling around 1760, while bread cereal yields continued to increase. Within the middle category of provinces, the increases in yields in Antwerp and West Flanders stand out in contrast to the situation in Brabant. During the period under consideration, West Flanders registered a remarkable increase in cereal yields per sown area (24 per cent for rye, 31 per cent for maslin, 26 per cent for barley and 30 per cent for oats). In contrast with East Flanders, West Flemish agriculture even succeeded in continuing the

3 The growth in the first half of the 19th century may nevertheless not be overestimated because, among other things, yields from probate inventories reflect a clear underestimation of real production.

54

Arable productivity in Flanders and the former territory of Belgium

increases in oat and barley yields into the middle of the 19th century. The productivity trend in Antwerp followed that in West Flanders, except that the mean rye yield showed a stronger increase (34 per cent). Diametrically opposed to this was the development in the province of Brabant. This region recorded the weakest productivity growth nationally (3-8 per cent). The expansion of potato cultivation in the Austrian Netherlands provided a strong stimulus for growth in agricultural productivity. In yield per unit area, the productivity of potatoes was eight to nine times higher than that of wheat. The mean gross yield of potatoes was 110 hl/ha, compared with 13 hl/ha for rye and 12 hl/ha for wheat (Vandenbroeke, 1975: 272-73) Taking into consideration that the calorific value of potatoes was 25 per cent of that of rye and wheat, 1 ha of potatoes could feed twice as many people as 1 ha of bread grains. In this way, potato cultivation guaranteed a considerable expansion of primary food supply. Furthermore, potatoes were rich in vitamin C, so that they contributed to a qualitative improvement in the daily menu of the rural population. In short, the cultivation of potatoes eased the tension between rising population and limited supply of land by increasing the caloric productivity per unit of arable land and reducing the fallow area (Goossens, 1992: 166-68). Although for most provinces our yield data for potatoes are based upon approximate estimates, we can draw a number of conclusions. We note, for example, that the average national potato yield during the period 1760-1812 increased by only 20 per cent. This is a modest growth compared with the growth which occurred during the first half of the 19th century (51 per cent). Moreover, the regional productivity of potato cultivation around 1750 showed little similarity with that of cereal crops. In the provinces of Luxembourg and Namur, which traditionally recorded the lowest cereal yields, the yield of potatoes fluctuated around the same level as that of the more progressive agricultural regions, such as Brabant and Hainault. We also have for this period a good series of yields for industrial products such as flax, which was at the core of the Flemish rural cottage industry. Under Austrian rule (1712-94) the productivity of flax cultivation in the provinces of East Flanders, West Flanders and Hainault was characterized by a strong homogeneity. In these three regions, the mean flax yield around 1760 amounted to approximately 320 kg/ha. In terms of yield rise, the fastest growth was seen in East Flanders and Hainault (35-40 per cent). With increases of 24 and 30 per cent in sixty years time, West Flanders and Brabant were clearly lagging behind. As mentioned, tithe series also enable us to a certain extent to reconstruct long-term trends in arable production. It seems that from the second half of the eighteenth century, tithes became more reliable for measuring arable productivity. With regard to the County of Flanders, the tithes show a remarkable output increase after 1750. This appears, for instance, from the tithe yields of the Chapter of Saint Bava in Ghent (Thoen, 1979). According to these tithe incomes, cereal production in the sandy and sandy loam regions of East Flanders rose by 50 per cent between 1750 and 1790. Taking into consideration that the total cultivated acreage increased only by 7-8 per cent during the period 1760-1830, the upward trend of tithe returns was mainly due 55

Land productivity and agro-systems

to the combined effect of a more efficient output structure and increased land productivity.

Conclusion With regard to arable production and productivity in the 17th and 18th centuries, two growth dynamics may be discerned. The first is the evolution towards a more diversified product mix, with the introduction of clover and potatoes and the extension of flax cultivation being the most important improvements. This movement went along with a shift towards more valuable crops and the gradual abolition of the fallow and up-and-down husbandry. The second dynamic is the steep increase in crop yields, especially during the 18th century. Between 1750 and 1850, land productivity responded positively to rapid population growth and rising prices, but it realized a less marked rate of increase. This brings us to idea that the increase in crop yields since 1750 cannot be called 'revolutionary'. The term 'growth acceleration' seems more appropriate. Which agricultural-technical factors made the increase in average crop yields possible? It may be assumed that the more intensive soil cultivation and better fertilization were largely responsible for the real increase in land productivity. Better fertilization must in turn be attributed to the adoption of more progressive crop rotation schemes, the generalization of stall feeding and increasing use of urban manure. The relative importance of these factors was regionally differentiated. In the Flemish provinces of Brabant, East Flanders and West Flanders, the official accounts and lease registers of different towns reveal that the value of the urban manure lease rose rapidly after 1750. This points to a remarkable increase in the demand for urban manure in the countryside. Because urban manure was qualitatively superior to traditional farm manure, it contributed to a new upswing in arable productivity (Goossens, 1992: 287-92). However, as mentioned, the rise in yields was mainly the result of the gradual elimination of fallow area in crop rotation systems at the end of the Ancien Regime. The abolition of fallow implied that an increasing share of former fallow land was cultivated with animal feed crops, such as clover and turnips. It is likely that at the same time the amount of catch crops was growing. This led to a qualitative improvement and substantial expansion of manure production and consequently of rural production. Whether it also went along with an increase in cattle production is less certain. 4

4 There is no space here to deal with cattle farming, although it is clearly linked to arable production. The data concerning cattle farming in the 18th century are quite contradictory.

56

Arable productivity in Flanders and the former territory of Belgium

4.

General conclusion

For the Middle Ages and first part of the early modem period, the available sources are too rare and unequally conserved to make accurate estimates of arable production and productivity. The greatest amount of information available for this period concerns the former county of Flanders. Only for the 18th century do we have a rich variety of quantitative sources, forming a solid basis for an inter-regional study of the agrarian economy. However, it is possible to put forward some conclusions about agricultural productivity over the long term. In methodological terms, we noted that productivity data per sown arable unit can be deceptive unless they are embedded in the global rural context. Although the crop yields in Flanders were very high from the 13th century, these were not comparable with the yields from the same area in the second half of the 19th century (Dejongh and Vanhaute, 1999). If we take the net yields, or gross yields minus the seed used for sowing, we see that Belgian land productivity differed less from other countries than has often been supposed. Once the amount of cultivated land is taken into account, the crop yields reached extremely high levels only in particular areas, such as inland Flanders. In fact, the gradual elimination of fallow and temporarily cultivated land (dries) in Flanders was a much more important progress than the increase of the yields per (sown) hectare. In inland Flanders, the agricultural system was based on the predominance of smallholdings. Already in the Middle Ages farmers were producing large quantities of animal feed crops. Turnips were being sown in the 13th century. The cultivation of clover dates from the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Several progressive farming techniques, such as the cultivation of cereals in narrow, high-backed ridges and a number of specific instruments (such as the 'pick'), were probably 'invented' in Flanders. Gradually these were adopted on a large scale. It was from here, not from the northern Netherlands, that these innovations spread to England and other European countries. However, the progress of Flemish agriculture was not primarily the result of technical revolution but rested rather upon the high input of labour per unit of land. In most areas, the intensification of arable production went along with a splitting up of peasant holdings and declining labour productivity (Thoen, 1999). The increasing fragmentation of farms started with the fundamental change of the Flemish agriculture in the 13th century. In many respects, this century marked a turning point in the rural history of Flanders. Although Flemish agriculture had been recording high crop yields since the late Middle Ages, there was still room for an increase in land productivity in the period after 1600. Due to the improvement of the rotation systems, the introduction of high yielding crops, and more intensive tilling and manuring of the soil, land productivity showed an upward trend after the 1650s. The yields rose to a higher level again during the first two decades of the 18th century, and rose yet again at the beginning of the 19th century. In the sandy region of East Flanders, for instance, the gross yields of rye went up from 12-17 hl/ha between 1400 and 1770 to 18-20 hl/ha in the 18th century. 57

Land productivity and agro-systems

There was no agricultural revolution as some scholars have described (Craeybeckx, 1963; Roland, 1938; Van der Wee, 1978), nor was there a long-term stability in the development of arable productivity (Vandenbroeke and Vanderpijpen, 1989; Verhulst, 1989 ). What took place instead was a gradual evolution. In some periods, as in the 13th and 18th centuries, this evolution accelerated. In periods of declining population there was even a temporary regressive evolution. Fallow and dries became sometimes more common again. In the long term, in the former County of Flanders, the intensification process continued until the end of the Ancien Regime and even later. In this area, agriculture has grown from an infield-outfield system and common use of fallow in the 12th century to a system of intensive husbandry where 20 per cent of the land was cultivated with catch crops. Agricultural productivity has grown probably by four or five times over the course of five hundred years. This 'agrarian evolution' was largely driven by the splitting up of holdings. For the 17th and 18th centuries, it can clearly be proved that the population increase and the dividing of holdings occurred faster than the production increase. In the Land of Alost, production indices rose from 100 in 1650 to 125 and 144 in respectively 1750 and 1780. Population, however, rose from 100 in 1650 to 153 in 1750, and 192 in 1780 (Vandenbroeke, 1987: 336). In the Cambresis, Morineau found the same situation. At the beginning of the 18th century wheat production stood at 7 .8 hi per person. In 1778 this had diminished to 4.6 hi. and in 1840 to 2.7 hi. (Morineau, 1977: 341). Research on the 18th and 19th centuries reveals that also on a regional basis, the development of population and land productivity were positively related (Dejongh, l 996b ). The former County of Flanders represents an extreme. It reflects the mechanisms of an agrosystem based on a 'commercial peasant economy'. In areas with different property and market structures, like many areas in Wallonia, more extensive agrosystems and traditional reproduction systems were still practised until the 19th century.

58

Arable productivity in Flanders and the former territory of Belgium

Bibliography7 Allen, R.C. (1988) 'Inferring yields from probate inventories' JEH, 48, pp.117-25. Billen, C. (1975) 'Des campagnes sous le joug des traditions', in H. Hasquin (ed.), La Wallonie. Les pays et les hommes, s.1., vol. l, pp. 295-311. Billen, C. (1989) 'L'epeautre en Wallonie du Bas Moyen-Age jusqu'a l'epoque contemporaine. Une mise au point', in J.-P. Devroey and J.-J. Van Mol (eds), L'epeautre (Triticum Spelta). Histoire et ethnologie (BCLG, n° 94), Louvain-la-Neuve, pp. 177-85. Chorley, G.P.H. (1981) 'The Agricultural Revolution in Northern Europe, 1750-1880: nitrogen, legumes and crop productivity', EHR, second series, XXXIV, pp. 71-93. Craeybeckx, J. (1963) 'De agrarische wortels van de Industriele Omwenteling', Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Filologie en Geschiedenis, XU, pp. 397-448. Daelemans, F. (1978) 'Tithe revenues in rural South West Brabant, fifteenth to eighteenth centuries', in H. Van der Wee and E. Van Cauwenberghe (eds), Productivity of Land and Agricultural Innovation in the Low Countries (1250-1800) (BCLG, no. 55), Leuven, pp. 25-41. Daelemans, F. (1979) 'De tienden van het Sint-Geertrudekapittel van Nijvel (15e-18e eeuw): een eerste benadering. Bijdrage tot de conjunctuurstudie', in A. Verhulst and C. Vandenbroeke (eds), Landbouwproduktiviteit in Vlaanderen en Brabant 14de-18de eeuw (BCLG, no. 56), Ghent, pp. 201-366. Daelemans, F. (1988a) 'Boeren in oorlogstijd. De sociale, economische en demografische gevolgen van een oorlog op het platteland in Brabant (l 5e- l 8e eeuw)', in F. Vanhemelryck et al. (eds.), Mensen in oorlogstijd, Brussels, pp.57-104. Daelemans, F. (1988b) Brannen voor de geschiedenis van de materiele cultuur. Staten van goed en testamenten (Archief- en Bibliotheekwezen in Belgie. Extranummer, 25), Brussels. Dejongh, G. (1996a) Krachtlijnen in de ontwikkeling van het agrarische bodemgebruik in Belgie, 1750-1850 (Centre for Economic Studies, Workshop in Quantitative Economic History, Research Paper: 96.01), Leuven. Dejongh, G. (1996b) 'De ontwikkeling van de akkerbouwproduktiviteit in de Belgische landbouw, 1750-1850', Bijdragen tot de Geschiedenis, 79, pp. 197-231. Dejongh, G. (1999) Tussen immobiliteit en revolutie. De economische ontwikkeling van de Belgische landbouw in een periode van transitie ( 1750-1850) (preliminary version of Ph.D.), Leuven.

7

Abbreviations: AESC = Annales. Economies. Societes. Civilisations; BCLG = Belgisch Centrum voor Landelijke Geschiedenis. Centre Beige d'Histoire Rurale; EHR = Economic History Review; JEH =Journal of Economic History; NAGN Nieuwe Algemene Geschiedenis der Nederlanden; TG = Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis.

59

Land productivity and agro-systems

Derville, A. (1976) 'Le rendement du ble dans la region lilloise (1285-1541)', Bulletin de la Commission Historique du Departement du Nord, XL, pp. 23-39. Derville, A. (1987) 'Dimes, rendements du ble et "revolution agricole" dans le nord de la France au Moyen Age', AESC, 42, pp. 1411-32. Derville, A. (1995) 'L'agriculture flamande. Des origines medievales aux descriptions de 1800', Histoire et Societes Rurales, 2, pp. 47-68. De Waha, M. (1979) Recherches sur la vie rurale aAnderlecht au Mayen Age (Credit Communal, Collection Histoire, serie en -8°, no. 57), Brussels. Dupont, J.A. (1983) 'Les pratiques agraires dans le Hainaut belge. La diffusion de l'assolement triennal', J.-M. Cauchies and J.-M. Duvosquel (eds), Recueil d'etudes d'histoire hainuyere offertes a Maurice A. Arnould, vol. I, pp. 403-22. Genicot, L. (1982) L'economie rurale namuroise au Bas Mayen Age 3: Les hommes, le commun, Louvain-la-Neuve. Goossens, M. (1992) The economic development of Belgian agriculture: a regional perspective, 1812-1846 (Studies in Belgian Economic History, II), Brussels. Goy, J. and Le Roy Ladurie, E. (eds) (1972) Les fluctuations du produit de la dime. Conjoncture decimate et domaniale de la fin du Mayen Age au XV/Ile siecle (Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Sorbonne, Sixieme Section, Cahiers des Etudes Rurales III), Paris and La Haye. Gutmann, M.P. (1978) 'War, the tithe and agricultural production: the Meuse basin north of Liege, 1661-1740', in H. Van der Wee and E. Van Cauwenberghe (eds), Productivity of land and agricultural innovation in the Low Countries ( 1250-1800) (BCLG, no. 55), Leuven, pp. 65-76. Gutmann, M.P. (1980) War and rural life in the early modern Low Countries, Assen. Isterdael, H. van (1983). 'De opbrengst factoren in het Land van Aalst (17de-19de eeuw)', in J. Craeybeckx and F. Daelemans (eds), Bijdragen tot de geschiedenis van Vlaanderen en Brabant, vol. 1, Brussels, pp. 147-65. Isterdael, H. van (1988) 'Landbouwstrukturen in het Land van Aalst (17de-18de eeuw)', in Het Land van Aalst, XL, pp. 269-308. Jansen, J.C.G.M. (1978) 'Tithes and the productivity of land in the South of Limburg, 1348-1790', in H. Van der Wee and E. Van Cauwenberghe (eds), Productivity of land and agricultural innovation in the Low Countries (1250-1800) (BCLG, no. 55), Leuven, pp. 77-90. Jaspers, L. and Stevens, C. (1985) Arbeid en tewerkstelling in Oost-Vlaanderen op het einde van het Ancien Regime. Een socio-professionele en demografische analyse (Kultureel Jaarboek voor de Provincie Oost-Vlaanderen. Bijdragen, no. 23), Ghent. Le Roy Ladurie, E. and Goy, J. (1982) Tithe and agrarian history from the fourteenth to the nineteenth centuries: an essay in comparative history, Cambridge.

60

Arable productivity in Flanders and the former territory of Belgium

Lindemans, P. (1952) Geschiedenis van de landbouw in Belgie, Antwerp, 2 vols. Mertens, J. (1970) De laat-middeleeuwse landbouweconomie in enkele gemeenten van het Brugse platteland (Gemeentekrediet. Historische Uitgaven, reeks in -8°, no. 27), Brussels. Marineau, M. (1977) 'Cambresis et Hainaut: des 257, pp. 323--43.

fr(~res

ennemis?', Revue Historique,

Neveux, H. (1972) 'La production cerealiere dans une region frontaliere: le Cambresis du XVe au XVIIe siecle. Bilan provisoire', in J. Goy and E. Le Roy Ladurie (eds), Les fluctuations du produit de la dime. Conjoncture decimate et domaniale de la fin du Mayen Age au XVI!Ie siecle (Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Sorbonne, Sixieme Section, Cahiers des Etudes Rurales III), Paris and La Haye, pp. 58-66. Neveux, H. (1973) Les grains du Cambresis (fin du X!Ve, debut du XVI!e siecles): vie et declin d'une structure economique, Lille. Overton, M. (1979) 'Estimating crop yields from probate inventories: an example from East Anglia', JEH, 39, pp. 363-78. Overton, M. (1985) 'The diffusion of agricultural innovations in early modern England: turnips and clover in Norfolk and Suffolk, 1580-1740', Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 10, pp. 205-21. Overton, M. (1990) 'Re-estimating crop yields from probate inventories', JEH, 50, pp. 931-35. Overton, M. (1996) Agricultural Revolution in England: the transformation of the agrarian economy 1500-1800, Cambridge. Overton, M. and Campbell, B.M.S. (1996) 'Production et productivite dans l'agriculture anglaise, 1086-1871', Histoire et Mesure, XI, pp. 255-97. Pirotte, F. (1974) La terre de Durbuy aux XVI!e et XV/Ile siecles. Les institutions, l'economie et les hommes (BCLG, no. 35), Louvain. Roland, J. (1938) 'La revolution agricole au XVIIIe siecle, specialement dans la province de Namur', Annales de la Federation Acheologique et Historique de Belgique. XXX!me Session. Congres de Namur 1938, 31, pp. 356-71. Ruwet, J. (1957) 'Prix, production et benefices agricoles. Le pays de Liege au XVIIIe siecle', Bijdragen tot de Prijzengeschiedenis, II, pp. 69-108. Schelstraete, C., Kintaert, H. and De Ruyck, D. (1986) Het einde van de onveranderlijkheid. Arbeid, bezit en woonomstandigheden in het Land van Nevele tijdens de 17e en de 18e eeuw, Nevele. Sivery, G. (1972) Structures agraires et vie rurale dans le Hainaut Age, Lille, 2 vols.

afin du Mayen

Slicher van Bath, B.H. (1960) 'The rise of intensive husbandry in the Low Countries', in J.S. Bromsley and E.H. Kossmann (eds), Britain and the Netherlands: papers delivered to the Oxford-Netherlands Historical Conference, London, pp. 130-53. 61

Land productivity and agro-systems

Slicher van Bath, B.H. (1962) De agrarische geschiedenis van West-Europa, 500-1850, Antwerp and Utrecht. Thoen, E. (1979) 'Landbouwproductie en bevolking in enkele gemeenten ten zuiden van Gent gedurende het Ancien Regime (14e-18e eeuw), in A. Verhulst and C. Vandenbroeke (eds), Landbouwproduktiviteit in Vlaanderen en Brabant 14de-18de eeuw (BCLG, no. 56), Ghent, pp. 131-200. Thoen, E. (1988) Landbouwekonomie en bevolking in Vlaanderen gedurende de late Middeleeuwen en het begin van de Moderne Tijden. Testregio: de kasselrijen van Oudenaarde en Aalst (einde 13de-eerste helft 16de eeuw) (BCLG, no. 90), Ghent, 2 vols. Thoen, E., (1992) 'Technique agricole, cultures nouvelles et economie rurale en Flandreau bas moyen age', in Flaran 12. Plantes et cultures nouvelles en Europe occidentale au moyen age et a l 'epoque moderne, Auch, pp. 51-67. Thoen, E. (l 993a) 'Dries versus kouter. De wisselbouw in de Vlaamse landbouw van de Middeleeuwen tot de zestiende eeuw. Bijdrage tot de historische landschapsecologie en de geschiedenis van de agrarische techniek', Jaarboek Heemkring Scheldeveld, XXII, pp. 71-102. Thoen, E. ( 1993b) 'The count, the countryside and the economic development of the towns in Flanders from the eleventh to the thirteenth century: some provisional remarks and hypotheses', in E. Aerts and B. Henau (eds), Studia Historica Oeconomica. Liber amicorum Herman Van der Wee, Leuven, pp. 259-78. Thoen, E. (l 994a) 'Le demarrage economique de la Flandre au Moyen Age: le role de la campagne et des structures politiques (XIe-XIIe siecles). Hypotheses et voies de recherches', in A. Verhulst and Y. Morimoto (eds), Economie rurale et economie urbaine au moyen age, Ghent. Thoen, E. ( l 994b) 'Die Koppelwirtschaft im Flamischen Ackerbau vom Hochmittelalter bis zum 16 Jahrhundert', in A. Verhulst and Y. Morimoto (eds), Economie rurale et economie urbaine au moyen age, Ghent, 135-53. Thoen, E. (1995) 'Precis d'histoire du seigle en Flandre du XIIe au XVIIIe siecles: culture et consommation', in J.-P. Devroey, J.-J. Van Mol and C. Billen (eds), Le seigle. Histoire et ethnologie (BCLG, no. 112), Louvain-la-Neuve, pp. 101-16. Thoen, E. (1997) 'The birth of 'The Flemish Husbandry": agricultural technology in medieval Flanders', in J. Langdon and G. Astill (eds), Agricultural technology in Western Europe in the Middle Ages, pp. 69-88. Thoen, E. (forthcoming) 'The Flemish countryside in the transition debate: the 'commercial peasant economy' from the middle ages to the period of industrialization', in P. Hoppenbrouwers and J.L. Van Zanden (eds), From peasants to farmers. The Netherlands and the Brenner debate (CORN Publication Series, no 4). Tits-Dieuaide, M.-J. (1975) La formation des prix cerealiers en Brabant et en Flandre au XVe siecle, Brussels.

62

Arable productivity in Flanders and the former territory of Belgium

Tits-Dieuaide, M.-J. (1978) 'Cereal yields around Louvain, 1404-1729', in H. Van der Wee and E. Van Cauwenberghe (eds), Productivity of land and agricultural innovation in the Low Countries (1250-1800) (BCLG, no. 55), Leuven, pp. 97-105. Tits-Dieuaide, M.-J. (1982) 'L'etude des rendements agricoles au moyen age et a l'epoque modeme. Remarques sur les buts et les methodes', in Congres de Comines. XL Ve Congres de la Federation des Cercles d'Archeologie et d'Histoire de Belgique et ler Congres de !'Association des Cercles Francophones d'Histoire et d'Archeologie de Belgique. 28-31. VIII.1980, Comines, pp. 161-68. Uytven, R. van (1984) 'Vroege inbreuken op de braak in Brabant en de intensieve landbouw in de Zuidelijke Nederlanden tijdens de dertiende eeuw', in Tijdschrift van de Vereniging voor Aardrijkskundige Studies, 53, pp. 63-72. Vandenbroeke, C. (1969) 'Aardappelteelt en aardappelverbruik in de 17e en 18e eeuw', TG, 82, pp. 49-68. Vandenbroeke, C. (1975) Agriculture et alimentation. L'agriculture et l'alimentation dans !es Pays Bas autrichiens. Contribution a l'histoire economique et sociale a la fin de l'Ancien Regime (BCLG, no. 49), Ghent and Leuven. Vandenbroeke, C. (1979) 'Graanopbrengsten en oogstschommelingen in ZuidVlaanderen (17e-begin 19e eeuw)', in A. Verhulst and C. Vandenbroeke (eds), Landbouwproduktiviteit in Vlaanderen en Brabant 14de-18de eeuw (BCLG, no. 56), Ghent, pp. 379-405. Vandenbroeke, C. (1992) 'La culture de la pomme de terre en Belgique (XVIIc-XIXe siecles)', in Flaran 12. Plantes et cultures nouvelles en Europe occidentale au moyen age et a l'epoque moderne, Auch, pp. 115-28. Vandenbroeke, C. and Vanderpijpen, W. (1978) 'The Agricultural Revolution in Flanders and in Belgium: myth or reality?', in H. Van der Wee and E. Van Cauwenberghe (eds), Productivity of land and agricultural innovation in the Low Countries (1250-1800) (BCLG, no. 55), Leuven, pp. 165-70. Vandenbroeke, C. and Vanderpijpen, W. (1980) 'Landbouw in de Zuidelijke Nederlanden 1650-1815', NAGN, vol. 10, Haarlem, pp. 183-210. Vandewalle, P. (1979) 'Graanopbrengsten in de kasselrij Veume en omgeving tijdens de eerste helft van de 17 e eeuw', in A. Verhulst and C. Vandenbroeke (eds), Landbouwproduktiviteit in Vlaanderen en Brabant 14de-18de eeuw (BCLG, no. 56), Ghent, pp. 367-78. Vandewalle, P. (1980) 'Immobilisme en oorlogen: de 16de en 17de eeuw', in A. Verhulst and G. Bublot (eds), De Belgische Land- en Tuinbouw. Verleden en Heden, Brussels, pp. 21-27. Vandewalle, P. (1986) De geschiedenis van de landbouw in de kasselrij Veurne (1550-1645) (Gemeentekrediet. Historische Uitgaven, reeks in -8°, no. 66), Brussels. Vanhaute, E. (1992) Heiboeren. Bevolking, arbeid en inkomen in de 19de eeuwse Kempen (BCLG, no. 102), Brussels.

63

Land productivity and agro-systems

Verhulst, A., (1956) Het probleem van de verdwijning van de braak in de Vlaamse landbouw (XIIIe-XVIIe eeuw), in: Natuurwetenschappelijk Tijdschrift, 38, pp. 213219. Verhulst, A. (1985) L'intensification et la commercialisation de l'agriculture dans les Pays-Bas meridionaux au XIIIe siecle, in: La Belgique rurale du moyen age a nos jours. Melanges offerts a Jean-Jacques Hoebanx, Bruxelles, pp. 89-100. Verhulst, A. (1989) Agrarian revolutions: myth or reality?', Sartonia, 2, pp. 71-95. Verhulst, A. (1990) Precis d'histoire rurale de la Belgique, Brussels. Wee, H. van der (1978) 'The agricultural development of the Low Countries as revealed by the tithe and rent statistics, 1250-1800', in Productivity of land and agricultural innovation in the Low Countries (1250-1800) (BCLG, no. 55), Leuven, pp. 1-23. Wee, H. van der, and D'Haeseleer, P. (1995) 'Ville et campagne dans l'industrie liniere a Alost et dans ses environs (fin du moyen age-temps modernes)', in J.M. Duvosquel and E. Thoen, eds., Peasants and townsmen in medieval Europe, Gent, pp. 753-767. Woude, A.M. van der, and Schuurman, A., eds. (1980) Probate inventories. A new source for the historical study of wealth, material culture and agricultural development. AAG Bijdragen, 23.

64

2

Arable productivity in Belgian agriculture, c.1800-c.1950 Guy DEJONGH, Catholic University Leuven Eric VANHAUTE, University of Ghent

I.

Introduction 1

The aim of this chapter is to present an overview of trends in arable production in the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries. We shall concentrate on the reconstruction and interpretation of a consistent series of arable yields between 1850 and 1950. 2 First of all, we will describe some basic trends in the structural transformation that reshaped Belgian agriculture from the 19th century onwards. We will then focus on the evolution of crop yields, both on the national and regional levels. In the final section we relate the trends in productivity changes to two other important determinants in recent agricultural history, the growing importance of livestock farming and increasing intermediate consumption (of extra inputs as commercial forage and artificial fertilizers).

II. Belgian agriculture in the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries From the beginning of the 19th century onwards, the Belgian economy was reshaped by a huge structural transformation. The early breakthrough of the Industrial Revolution challenged the century-long domination of agriculture, especially after the middle of the century. The diminishing economic weight of the primary sector is reflected in the subdivision of the gross national product (Buyst, 1995: 355-56) (see Table 2.1). At the beginning of the 19th century, agriculture was still responsible for almost half of the surplus value realized in the national economy. This share declined to something over one-third in the middle of the century and, eventually to only 13 per cent in 1910. From the third quarter of the century, industrial production was the leading sector, closely followed by trade and services. Although these estimates are still provisional, they indicate the landslide that restructured the Belgian economic landscape in the second half of the 19th century. The industrial expansion generated an annual economic growth rate of more than 1 per cent, quadrupling the GNP per capita between 1820 and 1950. Eighteenth-century growth is, in contrast, estimated to amount to not much higher than 0.1 per cent per year (Blomme and Van der Wee, 1994: 91; Maddison, 1991: 198, 226-29).

1

For a map with the Belgian provinces: see figure 1.1 of the previous chapter. Although we have some estimates of arable productivity from 1812 onwards (Goossens 1812-46, Gadisseur 1845-12, Blomme 1880-1980), an integrated overview is still lacking. See Goossens, 1992: 85-91; Gadisseur, 1990: 228-300; Blomme, 1992: 320-22. 2

65

Land productivity and agro-systems

Table 2.1

year 1812 1846 1910

Sectoral division of the value added in Belgium, 1812-1910

agriculture 44 37 13

industry 26 33 45

trade and services 30 30 42

Note: value added is defined as the real surplus value generated by the national economy in one year. Unpublished data by courtesy of Antoon Soete, Catholic University Louvain.

The diminishing role of agriculture in economic life is also reflected in the numbers of people making a living from land and livestock. In 1846, almost two of every three Belgian households (64 per cent) farmed some land and/or owned some cattle. One of every five families cultivated more than two hectares, and can therefore regarded as independent farmers. Four decades later, only 53 per cent of all households had an (additional) agricultural income, and only 13 per cent made a living from it (Vanhaute, 1993: 216). The registered labour input declined by 30 per cent between 1850 and 1910. In 1910, only 22 per cent of the registered labour force was active in the primary sector, against 47 per cent in industry and 31 per cent in trade and services. In 1846, more than half of the active population earned the greatest part of its income from agricultural activities; a century later (1947), the figure was only 13 per cent (De Brabander, 1984: 131-34, 175, 184). Around 1880, Belgian agriculture went through a double turning point. First, households that depended on an (additional) income from land or livestock became an everdecreasing minority. The remaining farmers became more and more dependant on household labour. In 1937, only 16 per cent of the agricultural labour input came from hired labour, against 37 per cent in 1880 (Blomme, 1992: 222). Second, under pressure from the 'agricultural invasion', the output was reoriented towards livestock farming.3 Due to the huge growth in the import of cheap grain from North America and Russia, the prices of vegetal products declined much more than did those of animal products. The divergent price trend caused an impressive shift in the output structure. The transition from a mixed agricultural system based on the production of basic food stuffs towards commercial livestock farming is reflected in Figure 2.1, which plots

the nominal value of gross agricultural output between 1850 and 1913. 4

3 Between 1877 and 1895, the crop prices at the market declined by 43 per cent, whereas the livestock prices declined by only 20 per cent (Blomme, 1992: 202-03). 4 This graph is based on data from Blomme, 1992 and Gadisseur, 1990. For a methodological justification, see Dejongh, 1996.

66

Arable productivity in Belgian agriculture

Figure 2.1

Output value of arable and livestock farming in Belgium, 1845-1914, prices of 1910 (Belgian francs x 1000)

1000000 - . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - , 900000 800000 700000 600000 500000 400000 300000 200000 --arable

100000

- - livestock

0

1845

1850

1855

1860

1865

1870

1875

1880

1885

1890

1895

1900

1905

1910

Between 1880 and 1910 the output value of livestock farming almost doubled (an increase of 94 per cent), whereas the value of arable farming fluctuated around the same level. In 1880, 55 per cent of the gross output in Belgian agriculture came from cattle breeding, and 45 per cent came from the arable sector. Three decades later, the shares were 70 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively. The growth in livestock production affected arable farming in two ways. First, higher yields could be obtained through more intensive manuring. Second, rural land use was reshuffled. As the agrarian sector lost more and more of its traditional position as producer of basic foodstuffs, the acreage reserved for bread cereals declined by 25 per cent between 1850 and 1910. Potato cultivation expanded until the last decades of the century (by 53 per cent between 1846 and 1885), but starts to fall back afterwards. Because of the boom in livestock farming, the amount of land given over to pasture and fodder crops increased sharply in this period, by 39 per cent and 62 per cent respectively. Figure 2.2 summarizes the trends, while Table 2.2 presents the annual growth rates in Belgian agriculture between 1850 and 1910.

67

Land productivity and agro-systems

Figure 2.2

180

160

Trends in land use in Belgium, five-yearly means, 1850-1910 (18461850=100)

-

bread cereals---...- other cereals

-o--

total cereals -D- potatoes

- - fodder crops -i'