Agricultural Census and Land Management Practices Survey (LaMPS)
NAME OF ORGANISATION
4.1.1 The Agricultural Census provides benchmark national, state and sub-state data on agricultural commodity production, water use and natural resource management. The Agricultural Census is the largest business-based collection run by the ABS and is conducted every five years. In 2015-16 the Agricultural Census will cover approximately 100,000 agricultural businesses.
4.1.2 The Land Management Practices Survey (LaMPS) is a user-funded survey collecting detailed agricultural land management practices data. The 2015-16 LaMPS is the last of three biennial LaMPS surveys the ABS is contracted to deliver under the Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) MOU with the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources (DAWR). In 2015-16 the LaMPS will cover approximately 34,000 agricultural businesses.
4.1.3. In the 2015-16 reference year the Agricultural Census and LaMPS will be conducted simultaneously in the field.
4.2.1 The Agricultural Census is designed to support decision making and analysis by a wide variety of stakeholders across government, industry, the research sector and wider community by providing comprehensive high quality agricultural commodity production and activity data (including area and production for crops and area irrigated, number of livestock and number of producers for each commodity) at low levels of geographic disaggregation. The Agricultural Census also enables updates to core statistical infrastructure including the Agriculture frame (drawn from the ABS Business Register) which supports inter-censal surveys by both the ABS and the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES). The Agricultural Census is also the major source of commodity data used in the calculation of Value of Agricultural Commodities Produced (VACP), which is used as an input to the Australian National Accounts.
4.2.2 The Land Management Practices Survey (LaMPS) is designed to support and inform the Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) under the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) and the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory by providing data in respect to the implementation and uptake of on-farm emission reduction activities. Information on land management practices including: pasture and soil management, cattle and sheep management, ground cover maintenance, animal waste management, vegetation management and crop management undertaken by agricultural businesses will be produced.The data collected will support evidence-based policy and decision making in relation to the CFI and contribute to an improved information base to meet Australia’s national commitments and international obligations.
6.1.2 Coverage for the 2015-16 Agricultural Census and LaMPS will be maximised by drawing the frame for these collections from the ABSBR and Australian Business Register (ABR). The ABR collects information from businesses and other organisations when they register for an Australian business number (ABN). Since most businesses and organisations in Australia are required to obtain an Australian Business Number (ABN) from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) for their business operations the use of the ABR is considered to provide a high level of coverage for these surveys.
6.1.3 The 2015-16 Agricultural Census and LaMPS will use Sample and Frame Maintenance Procedures (SFMP) and Business Register feedback processes that are based on those that were developed for the 2010-11 Agricultural Census and have been refined over subsequent survey cycles, including the approach used in the combined 2013-14 LMACS (which incorporated 'unit splitting' for geographic location to ensure low geographic level estimates could be produced reliably). Under-coverage due to birth lags will be dealt with by birth adjustment factors, if needed (under advice from Methodology Division).
6.1.4 Information for all responding to the Agricultural Census units will be fed back to the ABSBR. This information will include whether or not units are in scope for agricultural collections and benchmark information (including size and geographical location) and some activity information. This information will be used to assist in scoping and stratifying future agricultural collections.
5.1.1 The Agricultural Census and LaMPS provides information about agricultural activity undertaken by all businesses recorded on the ABS Business Register (ABSBR) above a minimum cut-off applied to their agricultural production. For the purposes of these surveys a business is identified as undertaking agricultural activity if any of the primary or secondary productive activities of that unit fall within the Agriculture Subdivision (Subdivision 01) as defined by the 2006 edition of the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC).
5.1.2 The scope of all ABS agricultural surveys (which includes the Agricultural Census, annual agricultural survey and LaMPS) is based on business' Estimated Value of Agricultural Operations (EVAO) or a derived value based on Business Activity Statement (BAS) turnover. Since 1993-94 the scope cutoff has been for businesses with an EVAO above $5,000. From the 2015-16 reference year onwards, REAS will lift the minimum size cut-off to $40,000. The increase in scope cut-off has been implemented in order to address the National Agricultural Statistics review findings in relation to respondent burden, while improving the coherence of ABS agricultural statistics with other sources, in particular ABARES farm survey collections.
5.1.3 The increase in the scope cut-off will significantly reduce respondent burden for the 2015-16 Agricultural Census by reducing the number of businesses included in the collection from 150,000 to 100,000 and the LaMPS by reducing the number of businesses included in the collection from 50,000 to 34,000.
5.2.2 Outputs from the LaMPS will include detailed statistics on agricultural land use and land management practices being undertaken by agricultural businesses in Australia. Data will be produced at national, state and territory as well as Australian Agricultural Environment (AAE) region levels.
5.2.4 Specific outputs may also be produced as requested, on a user-funded basis, for clients such as government departments and industry groups.
5.3.2 Previously used definitions of size (Area of holding (AOH)) and Estimated Value of Agricultural Operations (EVAO) will provide consistency with previous Census and Survey outputs.
5.3.3 The statistical unit for the 2015-16 Agricultural Census and LaMPS is the business. A business is defined as ‘an establishment which is engaged in agricultural activities’ (i.e. classified to ANZSIC Sub-Division 01 – Agriculture). Most businesses on the frame conduct farming activities within a single Statistical Area (SA) and for these businesses the qualifier will be the 'ABN'. However, for the most complex and statistically significant units on the frame i.e. those operating farms in multiple SAs, the qualifier will be business/SA2.
Other concepts (summary)
New South Wales
Other (specify below)
Comments and/or Other Regions
The following versions of geography classifications will be used for the 2015-16 reference period:
4.3.1 The ABS has undertaken Agricultural Censuses over much of its history. Annual Agricultural Censuses were conducted until 1996-97, after which the ABS introduced a cycle of 5 yearly Agricultural Censuses, with large scale Agricultural Surveys to be undertaken in the inter-censal periods. This was undertaken in consideration of provider burden and cost of data collection. The scope of the Agricultural Census has been increased to $40,000 Estimated Value of Agricultural Operations (EVAO) in 2015-16 to align with ABARES collections and to reduce provider burden. Prior to this period an EVAO of $5,000 was used from the mid-1990s and before this values of $20,000 and $22,500 were used from the mid-1980s. The collection moved from an establishment or 'farm' based model to a business based model, using the ABS Business Register as a frame source in 2005-06. The reference period of the Agricultural Census was moved from year ended 31 March to year ended 30 June in 1999-2000 to better align with other ABS business surveys. A list of the Agricultural Census' collection history (from 1981-82) is shown below:
2015-16 Agricultural Census all businesses with an EVAO greater than or equal to $40,000
2010-11 Agricultural Census all businesses with an EVAO greater than or equal to $5,000
2005-06 Agricultural Census all businesses with an EVAO greater than or equal to $5,000
2000-01 Agricultural Census brought forward to align with Population Census.
1999-00 Agricultural Commodity Survey reference period changed to year ended 30 June (from year ended 31 March).
1997-98 Agricultural Commodity Survey introduced, Agricultural Censuses scheduled to be run every 5 years.
1996-97 Long form, all establishments with an EVAO greater than or equal to $5,000
1995-96 Short form, all establishments with an EVAO greater than or equal to $5,000
1994-95 Short form, all establishments with an EVAO greater than or equal to $5,000
1993-94 Long form. This was the first year of the long form/short form cycle. Change in EVAO level to $5,000 and over.
1992-93 EVAO level to $22,500 and over.
1991-92 Change in EVAO level to $22,500 and over.
1990-91 EVAO level to $20,000 and over.
1989-90 EVAO level to $20,000 and over.
1988-89 EVAO level to $20,000 and over.
1987-88 EVAO level to $20,000 and over.
1986-87 Change in EVAO level to $20,000 and over.
1982-83 Change in EVAO level to $2,500 and over.
1981-82 Prior to this, EVAO level was $1,500 and over.
4.3.2 On 24 March 2011, the Commonwealth Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency (DCCEE) introduced a bill for the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative Act 2011) to the House of Representatives. This bill endorsed the use of a common practice test to ensure on-farm emission reduction activities met the additionality requirements of the Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI). This test was designed to validate that certain on-farm emissions reduction activities were not common practice and were, therefore, additional for the purpose of generating CFI credits. To implement the common practice test appropriately, information current farm management practices across sectors and regions needed to be collected.
4.3.3 The ABS established the CFI Survey Program to collect information on Land Management Practices in response to the introduction of the Carbon Farming Initiative Act 2011. The 2015-16 LaMPS is the last of three biennial LaMPS surveys the ABS is contracted to deliver under the Carbon Farming Initiative.
Data availability comments
12.1.2 A first set of (preliminary) estimates for major commodity items from the Agricultural Census will be released in January 2017, seven months after the end of the reference period, in the publication Principal Agricultural Commodities, Australia, Preliminary.
12.1.3 Final estimates for all commodity items from the Agricultural Census will be released in March 2017, nine months after the end of the reference period, in the publication Agricultural Commodities, Australia.
12.1.4 Final estimates for water use and sources from the Agricultural Census will be released in April 2017, ten months after the end of the reference period, in the publication Water Use on Australian Farms.
12.1.5 Final estimates for key land management estimates sourced from both the Agricultural Census and LaMPS will be released in May 2017, eleven months after the end of the reference period, in the publication Land Management and Farming in Australia. This will be the third and final publication of this data under the Carbon Farming Initiative.
DATE OF LAST UPDATE FOR THIS DOCUMENT
24/06/2016 12:47 PM
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