Agricultural History Review, Volume 39 Part 1 (1991), pp. 17–29

First a survey is provided of the main characteristics of Dutch agriculture in the nineteenth century, covering geographical and soil conditions, regional differences, price developments, and the periodicity of economic growth in agriculture. Agriculture's contribution to the economy as a whole is examined, as well as government policy, and the onset and reactions to the major crisis of the late 1870s and 1880s. Attention then concentrates on Zeeland, a rich agricultural province which suffered relative stagnation in the nineteenth century. Cyclical fluctuations in the percentage of owner-occupancy amongst farmers are identified; their effect was such that the constantly changing ownership of the land channelled agricultural profits out of the province and sometimes even out of the country. 

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