A space analysis of incomes per labour unit in Belgian farms (1968-1969) - Are the factors « agricultural region » or « area under cultivation » able to explain the distribution of incomes per labourunit ? In a thousand Belgian farms whose accounts were kept by the Agricultural Economic Institute during the financial year 1968-69, the earned income per labour-unit was analysed. The influence of the two factors under consideration was clearly revealed by the relative frequency of varying levels of earned income. The existence of each of the phenomena « region » and « area » was borne out by the diversity of the combination of their effects : differences in the size of the farms and the productivity of labour, and differences in fertility and location. Any coherent social policy in agriculture implies previous knowledge of the different structural factors which conditions incomes. Long-term action can be carried out by mean of measures influencing the size of farms, developing employment locally, and, in the worst-off areas, by means of more specific aid and an attempt to intensify agricultural production.
