7101.0 - Ag Mag - The Agriculture Newsletter, Mar 2008  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 20/03/2008   
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Ag Mag | the agriculture newsletter


WELCOME


Farmer and kelpie reading questionnaireAs the acting Director of the Agriculture National Statistics Centre (NSC) I would like to welcome you, on behalf of the whole ABS Agriculture Program, to the second edition of Ag Mag.

This edition of Ag Mag will look at some of the latest developments in the Agriculture program. This includes the release of 2006 Agricultural Census data for a range of different geographical regions such as Murray Darling Basin, Natural Resource Management (NRM) areas, River Basins and Drainage Divisions, together with our traditional data at Statistical Local Area (SLA).

This newsletter includes SLA maps for selected items using the 2006 Agricultural Census data which came 'on-line' on 7 March 2008 in Agricultural Commodities: Small Area Data, Australia (cat. no. 7125.0). Data for Murray Darling by State, Drainage Divisions and River Basins will be available 'on-line' on 25 March when we reissue Agricultural Commodities, Australia (cat. no. 7121.0).

The provision of estimates for the increased range of regions is made possible by funding provided by the National Water Commission through Raising National Water Standards, and through natural resource management programs administered by the Departments of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. This is an exciting development in Agricultural statistics and more details are given in the section on Mesh blocks.

On another note, readers should be aware that, like many other departments and agencies across the Australian Public Service, the ABS has been required to reduce spending in the 2008-09 year. As a result, the Agriculture survey program will be reducing both the sample size and commodity content for the up-coming 2007-08 Agricultural Survey. The exact details of these changes are still being assessed but stakeholders and users will be notified of the outcomes.

For your information a copy of the 2007-08 survey form will be added to this newsletter once content has been finalised.

Finally, I would also like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to my recently retired predecessor Allan Nicholls, who had occupied this position for the last decade. Allan made many significant contributions in a number of statistical fields during a long and distinguished ABS career. He was well liked and respected. I'm sure Allan will also be missed by the many key clients and external stakeholders with whom he had such a good rapport.

If you have queries with any material in this newsletter, wish to provide any feedback on these collections or raise any issues regarding agricultural statistics in general, I would be happy to hear from you.


Jerralyn Wright
Acting Director
Agriculture Statistics (National Statistics Centre)

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