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EXPLANATORY NOTES


INTRODUCTION

1 This publication contains final estimates for the main commodities collected in the 2012-13 Rural Environment and Agricultural Commodities Survey (REACS). 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 Natural Resource Management (NRM) region and Statistical Area 4 (SA4) will be released at a later date as separate comma separated value (.csv) data cubes that can be opened in a variety of packages, including Excel.


GENERAL

3 Prior to the 2012-13 reference period, the ABS conducted an Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) and an Agricultural Commodity Survey (ACS) in alternate years, with an Agricultural Census conducted every five years. From the 2012-13 reference period onwards, this alternating program has been replaced by a combined collection, the REACS. The REACS provides data users with a more stable set of both commodity and land management practices year on year. At the time of publishing REACS 2012-13, the ABS intends to run an Agricultural Census every five years.

4 Agricultural water use data collected as part of the 2012-13 REACS 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). Information on a variety of management practices of Australian agricultural businesses, including land use, fertiliser use, farm management and natural environment protection collected from the REACS will be released in Land Management and Farming in Australia (cat. no. 4627.0).

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 AND LIVESTOCK PRODUCTS

7 Livestock slaughtering and livestock products, including 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).


INDUSTRY CLASSIFICATION

8 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

9 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).

10 Respondents to the 2012-13 REACS were businesses undertaking agricultural activity drawn from the ABS Business Register.


SCOPE AND COVERAGE

11 The scope of the 2012-13 REACS included all agricultural businesses recorded on the ABS Business Register (ABSBR) above a minimum size cut-off. The ABSBR is based on the Australian Business Register (ABR) which is administered and maintained by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

12 A minimum size cut-off of $5,000 was applied to determine whether a business was in-scope for the 2012-13 REACS. 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.

13 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.

14 For the 2012-13 REACS, a response rate of 83% was achieved from a sample of approximately 33,700 agricultural businesses.

RELIABILITY OF ESTIMATES (SAMPLE ERROR)

15 The estimates in this publication are based on information obtained from respondents to the REACS for the year ended 30 June 2013 and are subject to sampling variability; that is, estimates may differ from figures that would be produced if all agricultural businesses had been included in the survey. 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 when not all units have responded, i.e. when a 'sample' of responses only is obtained. 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 units had responded, and about nineteen chances in twenty that the difference will be less than two SEs.

16 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.

17 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.

18 A table with RSEs for selected commodities follows:

RELATIVE STANDARD ERRORS OF SELECTED COMMODITIES - at 30 June 2013
	Aust.	NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Barley for grain, production	1.8	4.8	3.5	10.8	3.8	3.0	4.0	-	-
Canola, production	2.7	6.0	5.3	47.9	6.1	4.5	24.9	-	-
Oats for grain, production	3.7	6.5	6.9	18.5	9.8	6.2	14.7	-	-
Wheat for grain, production	1.3	2.7	3.1	6.2	2.9	2.4	5.1	-	-
Oranges, production	4.8	5.9	8.3	21.9	9.9	14.1	-	-	-
Carrots, production	2.8	11.9	5.6	6.7	0.1	7.0	6.3	-	-
Potatoes, production	5.2	11.8	12.0	19.9	4.0	9.1	13.5	-	-
Total dairy cattle	2.9	5.7	4.3	8.1	7.0	4.5	4.8	-	-
Total meat cattle	1.7	2.0	4.0	3.6	4.7	3.1	7.9	1.3	2.1
Total sheep	1.4	2.5	3.7	6.4	2.8	2.2	2.9	-	0.9
Total pigs	2.3	3.5	5.2	5.6	6.4	3.2	17.9	19.4	-
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)