QUALITY DECLARATION - SUMMARY

INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT

For information on the institutional environment of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), including the legislative obligations of the ABS, financing and governance arrangements and mechanisms for scrutiny of ABS operations, please see ABS Institutional Environment.


RELEVANCE

The publication, Principal Agricultural Commodities, Australia (cat. no. 7111.0), contains preliminary estimates of principal crops and livestock numbers from the 2013-14 Rural Environment and Agricultural Commodities Survey (REACS).


TIMELINESS

Preliminary estimates from the REACS are generally published within 7 months of the end of the reference period, and at the same time as the preliminary estimates of the gross value of agricultural commodities produced from the Value of Agricultural Commodities Produced (VACP) Collection. Final estimates from the 2013-14 REACS will be released in Agricultural Commodities, Australia (cat. no. 7121.0), Water Use on Australian Farms (cat. no. 4618.0) and Land Management and Farming in Australia (cat. no. 4627.0) from mid-2015.


ACCURACY

Preliminary estimates from the 2013-14 REACS are based on a response rate of 83% and have been extensively edited. The resultant estimates have been checked against earlier years' estimates and relevant other sources, including contact with data providers and industry bodies, to ensure the accuracy of estimates produced.

All preliminary estimates in this publication are subject to sampling error. For more information about these errors, refer to the Explanatory Notes within this release.


COHERENCE

The 2013-14 REACS was conducted using a frame based on the Australian Taxation Office's Australian Business Register (ABR). This is the same as the frame used initially for the 2005-06 Agricultural Census, for subsequent annual agricultural surveys and the 2010-11 Agricultural Census. The estimates are directly comparable across these collection periods, however, it is recommended that care be taken when comparing estimates from these collection cycles to earlier years, i.e. prior to 2005-06. Detailed explanatory and technical notes relating to this change in frame were included in the 2005-06 PDF release of Agricultural Commodities, Australia (cat. no. 7121.0).


INTERPRETABILITY

The REACS and the previous Agricultural Commodity Surveys (including the Agricultural Resource Management Surveys) and five-yearly Agricultural Census provide a broad range of data about Australian agricultural commodities through a suite of standard products or as data customised for individual requirements. Time series data are available for some estimates that were collected through previous surveys/censuses. Detailed explanatory notes are provided with each publication to assist users in determining and specifying their data requirements and to understand the concepts underlying the data.


ACCESSIBILITY

An extensive range of data are available from a variety of agriculture based collections on the ABS website.

If the information you require is not available as a standard product or service, ABS Consultancy Services can assist with customised services to suit your requirements. Inquiries should be made to the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.