Results from the Scottish Agricultural Census: June 2023 Methodology Report

Relevance

The content of the census and any changes to it are agreed with a range of Scottish Government divisions and through stakeholder engagement events. User needs and the relevance of this data source have been considered through a number of stakeholder “Show and Tells”, where users have had the opportunity to highlight their data needs and priorities, and to influence the future of the census.

The survey provides data used by the Scottish Government, industry bodies and researchers to assess agricultural activity, and in the monitoring and development of policy.

The census has recently been part of the Agriculture Statistics Transformation Programme, where data and outputs have been reviewed and improved in collaboration with users.

Throughout the programme users have been consulted in decisions relating to data collection and options have been presented back to users throughout development to allow for feedback.

This has resulted in the new flexible approach to data collection in the census, where each year new data can be collected as part of a standalone module. User consultation and collaboration will continue each year to allow users to suggest new questions for the census and to offer feedback.

This will ensure the continued relevance of the census as a source of intelligence for the agricultural sector that is up to date and meets user needs.

Uses of the information

The census is conducted for a wide range of purposes. The statistics help the government to form, monitor and evaluate policy, and to assess the economic  status of the different agricultural sectors. Equally important is the regular contact with farmers, which enables the Agriculture and Rural Economy Directorate’s  register to be kept up to date. This means, for example, that information on new animal health requirements, or new subsidy schemes can be quickly directed to relevant farmers.

Some examples detailing how the census data are or have been used:

• to estimate the total income from farming, as part of the Scottish GDP figures and to compile the National Accounts for the UK.
• to model various scenarios and analyse outcomes/impacts on Scottish agriculture in relation to a range of options on the future of support for Scottish Agriculture.
• to provide disease and epidemiology modellers with a snapshot of livestock numbers and locations (at 1st June) to assist with real-time and emergency planning procedures for animal disease outbreaks.
• UK ammonia and greenhouse gas inventories – the census provides Scottish agricultural land and livestock data.
• to support work on various research packages such as assessing the potential impact of support payments to farmers; early environment effects on animal health and welfare; assessing the effectiveness of measures to manage water quality and control diffuse water pollution.

The census is also used by the main research providers working for the Scottish Government on numerous projects and underpins the majority of the analysis and research that is carried out, including providing sampling frames for this research.

In some cases the data are used to identify holdings which either hold livestock or grow crops. This is for the purposes of ensuring public, animal and plant health, or as part of legal or planning proceedings in accordance with the Agriculture (Retained EU Law and Data) (Scotland) Act 2020 Section 17.

UK and International reporting requirements

The data from June census are used to contribute to the formulation and publication of UK statistics on agriculture. These publications are co-ordinated by Defra and more details are available here.  The UK figures are also used to meet the UK’s reporting requirements to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation.

June Census outputs

As well as through the June Census publication, results from the June census are available to the public as follows:

The Annual Abstract of Statistics presents a time series from 1982 to 2016 which also contains some additional detail on selected items (common grazing, land tenure etc.). It is available to download as a spreadsheet and can be accessed here. Years commencing from 2017 to 2023 will be made available in 2024.

The outputs from the census on livestock and crops are also used as key inputs to the Total Income from Farming (TIFF) model, which is used to estimate the value of agricultural productivity in Scotland. Headline results are usually published each January with more detailed analysis presented in the Economic Report on Scottish Agriculture (ERSA) tables, which are published in May or June of each year. Results for TIFF can be accessed here.

The Economic Report on Scottish Agriculture (ERSA) is a compendium publication which contains detailed statistics on Scottish agriculture. It contains three sections covering, (i) Total Income From Farming (TIFF – see above for more details), (ii) Farm Accounts analysis (income and expenditure statistics by different farm types) and (iii) additional statistics/analysis from the June census e.g. more detail is provided on the structure and composition of Scottish agriculture in terms of the types of activity on holdings, additional geographic analysis is provided along with some UK comparisons. Since 2017 this is no longer an annual publication, but a full set of tables are published each year. The latest Economic Report on Scottish Agriculture can be accessed here. A new compendium product has been launched and can be found here.

Detailed module outputs relating to agricultural production methods and fertiliser use will be available towards the end of this year. The data and report will be published as supplementary information and will be published on the June agricultural census publication page.