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EXPLANATORY NOTES


INTRODUCTION

1 This publication contains final estimates for the main commodities collected in the 2010-11 Agricultural Census. Included are statistics on land use, industry activity, crop and horticultural area and production, and livestock numbers.

2 Data at sub-state geographies such as Murray Darling Basin (MDB), Natural Resource Management (NRM) region, Statistical Division (SD),Statistical Local Area (SLA), Statistical Area 4 (SA4) and Statistical Area 2 (SA2) geographical levels will be released from November 2012.


GENERAL

3 The Agricultural Census is conducted once every five years, with the Agricultural and Resource Management Survey (ARMS) and the Agricultural Survey (AS) conducted between Censuses. The main objective of the Agricultural Census is to provide benchmark information on the agriculture sector for small geographic areas. The 2010-11 Agricultural Census provides estimates for a range of agricultural commodity items, including broadacre cropping, horticultural production, livestock and land preparation. Care should be taken when comparing estimates over time as not all categories directly align between years. For example, a greater range of commodity items was collected for the 2010-11 Agricultural Census in comparison to the previous 2009-10 ARMS. Commodity information for the 2009-10 ARMS year is included where possible.

4 Agricultural water use data collected as part of the 2010-11 Agricultural Census will be released in Water Use on Australian Farms (cat. no. 4618.0). Data related to the gross and local values of production of major agricultural commodities for all states will be released in Value of Agricultural Commodities Produced, Australia (cat. no. 7503.0).

5 Where figures have been rounded, discrepancies may occur between sums of the component items and totals.


CROPS, PASTURES AND HORTICULTURE

6 Statistics on area and production of crops relate, in the main, to crops sown during the year ended 30 June. Statistics of perennial crops relate to the position at 30 June and the production during the year ended on that date, or fruit set by that date.


LIVESTOCK SLAUGHTERING, PRODUCTS AND NUMBERS

7 Livestock slaughtering and livestock products, including milk and wool data, and poultry slaughtering are no longer included in this publication. Further information can be found in the publication Livestock Products, Australia (cat. no. 7215.0).

8 In some cases respondents have provided a zero estimate for closing stock numbers, in this instance there may be no estimate of value but an estimate of count will be shown, caution should be used in interpreting cells in which this occurs


INDUSTRY CLASSIFICATION

9 The industry classification used in this publication is the 2006 version of the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC). Prior to the 2005-06 issue of this publication, estimates were based on the ANZSIC 1993 edition. ANZSIC 2006 was developed to provide a more contemporary industrial classification system taking into account issues such as changes in the structure and composition of the economy, changing user demands and compatibility with major international classification standards. For more information, please refer to Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 2006 (cat. no. 1292.0).


STATISTICAL UNITS USED

10 Since 2005-06, the ABS has used an economic statistics units model on the ABS' Business Register (ABSBR) to describe the characteristics of businesses and the structural relationships between related businesses. The units model is used within large and diverse business groups to define reporting units that can provide data to the ABS at a suitable level. The ABSBR is based on the Australian Business Register (ABR) which is administered and maintained by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

11 Respondents to the 2010-11 Agricultural Census were businesses undertaking agricultural activity drawn from the ABS Business Register.


SCOPE AND COVERAGE

12 The scope of the 2010-11 Agricultural Census included all businesses undertaking agricultural activity recorded on the ABS Business Register (ABSBR) above a minimum size cut-off of $5,000.

13 The measure of size was based on the ABS' Estimated Value of Agricultural Operations (EVAO) or a derived value based on Business Activity Statement (BAS) turnover if EVAO was not available.

14 While the ABSBR does not include all agricultural businesses in Australia, it provides improved coverage from the former ABS maintained Agricultural Survey frame, as most businesses and organisations in Australia need to obtain an Australian Business Number (ABN) from the ATO for their business operations. The ABR based register is also more up-to-date as it excludes agricultural businesses with cancelled ABNs and incorporates regularly updated information on agricultural businesses from the ABR and ATO.

15 For the 2010-11 Agricultural Census, a response rate of 88% was achieved from an in-scope population of approximately 165,000 agricultural businesses. This was the first agricultural collection to use an e-form, and the e-form achieved a take up of 11%.

RELIABILITY OF ESTIMATES (SAMPLE ERROR)

16 The estimates in this publication are based on information obtained from the agricultural businesses that responded to the Agricultural Census. However, since not all of the businesses that were selected provided data, the estimates are subject to sampling variability; that is, they may differ from the figures that would have been produced if all businesses had provided data. One measure of the likely difference is given by the standard error (SE) which indicates the extent to which an estimate might vary by chance because only a sample was taken or had responded. There are about two chances in three that a 'sample' estimate will differ by less than one SE from the figure that would have been obtained if all businesses had responded, and about nineteen chances in twenty that the difference will be less than two SEs.

17 In this publication, 'sampling' variability of the estimates is measured by the relative standard error (RSE) which is obtained by expressing the SE as a percentage of the estimate to which it refers.

18 Most published national estimates have RSEs less than 5%. For some states with limited production of certain commodities, RSEs are greater than 10%. Estimates that have an estimated RSE between 10% and 25% are annotated with the symbol '^'. These estimates should be used with caution as they are subject to sampling variability too high for some purposes. Estimates with an RSE between 25% and 50% are annotated with the symbol '*', indicating that the estimate should be used with caution as it is subject to sampling variability too high for most practical purposes. Estimates with an RSE greater than 50% are annotated with the symbol '**' indicating that the sampling variability causes the estimates to be considered too unreliable for general use. Separate indication of the RSEs of all estimates is available on request.

19 A table with RSEs for selected commodities follows:

RELATIVE STANDARD ERRORS OF SELECTED COMMODITIES - at 30 June 2011
	Aust.	NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Barley for grain, production	0.4	0.9	0.7	2.2	0.6	0.7	3.4	-	-
Canola, production	0.6	1.2	1.1	18.5	1.1	1.0	10.8	-	35.1
Lupins for grain or seed, production	0.9	2.1	2.6	30.2	1.7	1.2	16.6	-	-
Oats for grain, production	0.7	1.1	1.7	4.2	1.8	1.3	3.1	-	-
Wheat for grain, production	0.3	0.6	0.6	2.0	0.4	0.5	4.0	-	32.2
Oranges, production	1.6	2.1	6.0	1.0	2.3	3.6	-	-	-
Carrots, production	2.5	5.3	8.6	5.4	5.7	2.6	4.1	-	-
Potatoes, production	1.4	2.5	3.6	5.7	2.7	3.8	3.0	-	-
Total meat cattle	0.3	0.3	0.4	0.5	1.3	1.3	1.6	0.8	6.5
Total dairy cattle	0.5	1.3	0.5	1.8	3.1	2.0	1.6	20.4	-
Total Sheep	0.2	0.4	0.4	1.9	0.6	0.5	1.0	0.4	7.9
Total pigs	1.6	1.3	2.5	3.9	6.3	5.4	4.1	16.8	-
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)