The preliminary estimates for the Value of Agricultural Commodities Produced (VACP), Australia (cat.no. 7501.0) were released on 21 February 2011. This publication contains preliminary estimates of the gross values of production for principal agricultural commodities for all states, territories and Australia for 2009 -10.


VACP puts a dollar value on the gross value of major commodities such as crops, livestock and livestock products. The data was collected as part of last year's Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS), the preliminary results of which were published on the ABS website in November 2010. VACP details the data by state as well as nationally, so individual state production figures can be easily identified. Final estimates for 2009 -10 are due for release in June 2011 and will contain more commodities in greater detail as well as small area data by Natural Resource Management (NRM) regions and Statistical Divisions (SDs) released as data cubes.


In 2009 -10 the preliminary estimate of the gross value of agricultural commodities produced was $39.5 billion, a decrease of 6% (or $2.4 billion) from the previous year. The value of crops decreased 7% to $21.1 billion, and livestock products decreased 9%, down to $5.7 billion. This was due to a significant decrease in the value of whole milk. Livestock slaughterings and other disposals decreased 1% to $12.7 billion, with decreases in the value of cattle and calves and poultry more than offsetting increases in the value of sheep and lambs, pigs and other livestock.

WHO SORTS THROUGH THE DATA FOR VACP ?

Ever wonder about how the data for VACP is compiled and how it gets to the point of publication? Well ... let's see if we can offer a simple explanation of what is, in fact, a reasonably complex process.

Data is collected by the ABS' Environment and Agriculture Business Statistics Centre (BSC) in Tasmania through a vast array of collections and information provided by a host of internal and external providers. The responsibility for the compilation of all the various data and the 'massaging' of them into a readable format is given to our local "go to" VACP person, who we will call "Geoff" (name changed to protect the innocent).

ABS requests raw price data from providers via a market prices survey, where we send out forms to wholesale traders asking for details of purchases for the year for the variety of commodities that appear in the VACP tables. We get production and value data from other ABS collections for livestock and poultry slaughtering and shorn wool. We also get information from industry sources for milk, production and value. However, most production data comes from the annual Agricultural collection, i.e. the ARMS Survey, the Agricultural Census or the Agricultural Survey, depending on which one was run in that year. Overseas export data and factory processing data are also used to complete the picture. Calculations are then made of the average price and value for each commodity and the data is loaded to ABS' Data Warehouse for later derivation and eventual publication by the BSC's Output Services team. The timing of those outputs is detailed in the above item.

VACP is a fairly specialised area and requires similarly special attributes to maintain a consistency of product and service. "Geoff" has been around for 'yonks' and is the local authority on things VACP-ish. He has been with the ABS in Hobart for almost 43 years and for a fair slice of that time has been involved with VACP. His first dealings with it were in the late '80s when the VACP collection was produced by each state. VACP then travelled to Canberra for a while ("Geoff" stayed in Tassie) before eventually coming back to the Tassie BSC, as a national collection in 1997, with the creation of the National Project Centres. It has been seen as "Geoff's" baby since.




Now, no-one can expect to have that much fun at work for so long a time ... and so "Geoff" is retiring soon. He has decided that there might be other things to interest him in the big, wide world and so he is going off in search of them. He has said, however, that the only livestock he will be interested in are the neighbour's cats and keeping them off his garden! A sad loss to ABS of course, but diligent and lengthy recruitment procedures have finally concluded, resulting in "Scott" (name changed to protect the innocent) starting the long and arduous training regime in order to be able to take over the reins with the departure of "Geoff". No pressure on "Scott" of course, but ABS guarantees that its VACP product will continue to be produced in the same timely and efficient manner as previously. Finally, despite the constant rumours and despite his longevity in the ABS, there is no real evidence to prove that "Geoff" learned his livestock counting skills apprenticed to Noah (of the Ark fame).