Swedish Board of Agriculture

Statistic Unit

Jordbruksverket

SE-551 82 Jönköping

Sweden

The Economic Accounts for Agriculture (EAA) provide detailed information on income from agricultural activity.

The methods are laid down in the Regulation (EC) 138/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council.

The EAA are an integral part of the ESA. As such, they are compiled based on NACE Rev.2, the statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community. The list of activities which defines the agricultural industry corresponds, in principle, to Division 01 of that classification: Crop and animal production, hunting and related service activities. However, some differences exist and they are detailed in Annex 1 of Regulation (EC) 138/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council.

See the detail below.

See sheets 3.2.1.1.(a) to 3.2.1.1.(c) in the attached Excel file 'Annex 1 - Components of the Production account - Output' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheets 3.2.1.2 (a) to 3.2.1.2 (c) in the attached Excel file 'Annex 2 - Components of the Production account - Intermediate consumption' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheet 3.2.1.3 in the attached Excel file 'Annex 3 - Components of the Generation of income account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheet 3.2.1.4 in the attached Excel file 'Annex 4 - Components of the Entrepreneurial income account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheet 3.2.1.5 in the attached Excel file 'Annex 5 - Elements of the Capital account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

The sector covers all units involved in agricultural production, even if some of those units have more important economic activities or if the purpose of some others is not commercial. However, kitchen gardens (producing for own-consumption only) are not included.

The list of agricultural activities characteristic of the EAA corresponds to the seven groups of Division 01 of NACE Rev 2 activities (01.1 to 01.7), with the following caveats:

- the inclusion of the production of wine and olive oil (exclusively using grapes and olives grown by the same holding),

- the exclusion of certain activities which, in NACE Rev. 2, are considered as agricultural services (e.g. the operation of irrigation systems - only agricultural contract work is taken into account here).

A detailed methodology can be found in Annex I of Regulation (EC) 138/2004.

The EAA are satellite accounts of the European System of Accounts (ESA) providing complementary information and concepts adapted to the particular nature of the agricultural industry.

The EAA are shown as a sequence of inter-related accounts. As the EAA are based on the industry concept, the sequence of accounts is limited to the first accounts of the current account:

- the production account and

- the generation-of-income account

whose balancing items are value added and operating surplus, respectively.

Nevertheless, it should be possible to compile other accounts, at least in part, in so far as the relevant flows can be clearly attributed to them. The accounts in question are the following:

- the entrepreneurial income account (one of the current accounts) and

- the capital account (one of the accumulation accounts).

The EAA provide a wide range of indicators on the economic activities in the agricultural sector: these include output, intermediate consumption, gross and net value added, gross fixed capital formation (GFCF), both in current prices and in constant prices, as well as compensation of employees, other taxes and subsidies on production, net operating surplus or net mixed income, property income and net entrepreneurial income in current prices.

Three indicators of the economic performance of agriculture are defined in the EAA:

•Indicator A: Index of the real income of factors in agricultural per annual work unit.           
•Indicator B: Index of real net agricultural entrepreneurial income per unpaid annual work unit.          
•Indicator C: Net entrepreneurial income of agriculture.

Agricultural output is the total of agricultural products and the goods and services produced in inseparable non-agricultural secondary activities created during the accounting period. It is recorded as a resource in the production account and it is valued and recorded at the time it is generated, that is when produced and not when paid by the purchaser.

In the compilation of the EAA, output is progressively broken down in quantity terms (see paragraph 2.037 of Regulation (EC) 138/2004).

Output is valued at the basic price. The basic price is the price receivable by the producers from the purchaser for a unit of a good or service produced, minus any tax (i.e. taxes on products) payable on that unit plus any subsidy (i.e. subsidies on products) receivable on that unit. The basic price excludes any transport charges invoiced separately by the producer. It also excludes holding gains and losses on financial and non-financial assets.

The valuation of output at the basic price makes it necessary to distinguish between taxes (other than VAT) on products and subsidies on products, on the one hand, and other taxes and subsidies on production, on the other. 

Intermediate consumption represents the value of all goods and services used as inputs in the production process, excluding fixed assets whose consumption is recorded as fixed capital consumption.

The inputs used for intermediate consumption should be valued at the purchaser prices for similar goods and services applicable at the time of their insertion in the production process. The purchaser price includes taxes less subsidies on products (but excluding deductible taxes like VAT on the products). It also includes any transport charges paid separately by the purchaser to take delivery at the required time and place.

In the case of the generation of income account, the distributive transactions relate to other taxes on production, other subsidies on production and the compensation of employees.

For details please see sheet 3.4.3 - Other questions in the attached Excel file 'Annex 3 - Components of the Generation of income account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

The entrepre­neurial income account records certain types of property income (mainly land rents, interest and property income attributed to insurance policy holders).

For details please see sheet 3.4.4 - Other questions in the attached Excel file 'Annex 4 - Components of the Entrepreneurial income account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

In addition to Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF), the capital account records distributive trans­actions corresponding to aid for investment and other capital transfers.

The overall unit is the agricultural sector. However, in order to provide more detailed information and to analyse flows generated by the production process and the use of goods and services, it is necessary to select units which emphasise relationships of a technical-economic kind. This means that, as a rule, institutional units must be broken-down into smaller and more homogeneous units with regard to the kind of production (local kind-of-activity units/local KAUs) are intended to meet this requirement (ESA 2010, 2.147).

The local KAU is defined as the part of a KAU which corresponds to a local unit. The institutional unit's information system must be capable of indicating or calculating for each local KAU at least the value of output, intermediate consumption, compensation of employees, the operating surplus and employment and gross fixed capital formation (ESA 2010, 2.148).

The agricultural holding, (the unit currently used for statistical studies of agriculture (censuses, surveys of the structure of agricultural holdings), is the local KAU most appropriate to the agricultural industry (even though certain other units, such as wine or olive oil cooperatives, or units performing contract work, etc., have to be included in it). Nevertheless, it should be pointed out that the variety of agricultural activities that can be performed on agricultural holdings makes them a special type of local KAU. The strict application of the ESA rule to units and their group should in fact result in a division of the agricultural holding into several separate local KAUs in cases where several activities of the NACE Rev. 2 four-digit class are performed on the same holding.

Although the ESA gives pre-eminence to local KAUs, the unit best suited to analyse the production process is the unit of homogeneous production (UHP). This unit is used to analyse inputs and outputs, since it corresponds exactly to a type of activity. Institutional units are thus divided into as many UHPs as there are activities (other than ancillary). By grouping these units of homogeneous production it is possible to break down the economy into 'pure' (homogeneous) branches. A UHP cannot, as a rule, be directly observed. Therefore, the accounts of homogeneous branches cannot be compiled on the basis of groups of UHPs. The ESA describes a method for compiling these accounts.

The use of the local KAU as the basic unit for the agricultural industry entails recording non-agricultural secondary activities where they cannot be distinguished from the main agricultural activity (inseparable non-agricultural secondary activities of local agricultural KAUs) The selection criterion for inseparable non-agricultural secondary activities is rather the type of activity than the nature of the product. For example, agro-tourism services provided by a farm must only be included if they cannot be separated from its agricultural activities.

The reference area is Sweden.

1990-2020

The base year for the price indexes used for calculating values for year t in t-1 prices is 2015.

- Values at current prices: Million SEK

- Values at constant prices: Million SEK

- Agricultural labour input data: Number in 1000 annual work units

2020

EU legislation:

Regulation (EC) No 138/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 December 2003 on the economic accounts for agriculture in the Community as amended

National legislation:

The general legislation for official staistics are the Official statistics act (2001:99) and the Official statistics ordinance (2001:100). According to the ordinance, the Swedish Board of Agriculture is responsible for official statistics within the subject area Agriculture, forestry and fishery specific statistics areas:

- Agricultural structure

- Agricultural economy

- Agricultural production

- Employment in agriculture

- Price trends in agriculture

 There is no specific national legislation for EAA data collection. It is covered by the general acts and ordinances for the official statistics.

Swedish Board of Agriculture

Swedish Board of Agriculture

According to the official statistics ordinance (2001:100), agencies responsible for administrative registers are obliged to share them with agencies responsible of producing official statistics. 

According to the public access to information and secrecy act (2009:400), agencies responsible for producing official statistics are obliged to share data with other agencies responsible for official statistics for the purpuse of producing official statistics

The confidentiality policy for EAA follows from the rules in general for official statistics. That is, results should not be disseminated if information for an individual holding/company/respondent could be revealed.

The confidentiality rules for microdata used in EAA follows from the rules in general for official statistics.

Since all microdata i summed up to totals the confidentiality rules do not cause any problem at the moment.

The dissemination of EAA results are set in a release calender for each year. For reference year 2020 the date were set as follows:

- First estimates: 2020-12-03

- Second estimates: 2021-02-04

- Final results: 2021-10-05

The release calender is published on the webbsite of the Swedish Board of Agriculture and on the webbsite of Statistics Sweden.

The data is published at 08:00 on the date set in the release calender. At that time all users have access to the report and data in the database at the same time.

Short after the dissemination of the first estimated ther is a press release sent out. The press is not informed about the results before data has been published.

There are no press releases in connection with the dissemination of the second estimates and final data.

EAA data for at specific reference year is disseminated three times. The dissemination of EAA results are set in a release calender for each year. For reference year 2020 the date were set as follows:

- First estimates: 2020-12-03

- Second estimates: 2021-02-04

- Final results: 2021-10-05

There is only a news release in connection with the dissemination of the first estimates.

EAA is disseminated three times a year and the format is:

- Report on the webbsite of the Swedish Board of Agriculture

- Data are published in a database on the webbsite of the Swedish Board of Agridulture.

- Attached to the publications there are two metdata document published. One dealing with the quality of the statistics and one dealing with the production process.

The data is published in an online database on the webbsite of the Swedish Board of Agridulture.

There is no microdata disseminated.

There are no other disseminations.

There are no further methodological guidelines available.

As mentioned in section 10.2, for each publication there are two metdata document published. One dealing with the quality of the statistics and one dealing with the production process.

When it comes to quality management in general, the Swedish Board of Agriculture has implemented a statistical process used for all official statistics that is produced, se section 11. 

The Swedish Board of Agriculture has implemented a statistical process used for all official statistics that is produced. The process follows in principle the statistical process of the UNECE (Generic statistical business process model) but it is adapted to cover all parts of the European statistics Code of Practice.

Link to the statistical process.

Quality management in assesset by Statistics Sweden's regulation on quality in official statistics (SCB-FS 2016:17). Results are reported by Statistics Sweden to the ministry of finance every year.

When we disseminate the statistical results we disseminate an assessement of the quality of the statistics according to the following criteria:

- Relevance

- Accuracy

- Timelineness and punctuality

- Coherence and comparability

Main users:

- Naional accounts (Statistics Sweden)

- Ministry of Enterprise and innovation

- The federation of Swedish farmers

- Researchers/students

- Journalists

- Internal use at the Swedish Board of Agriculture: Mostly the Department of Agriculture and Analyses

Every year, the Swedish Board of Agriculture arrange a meeting with users of statistics in the field of responsibility of the Bord. From the last meeting there were no unmet user needs mentioned.

The statistics is complete.

EAA is compiled using many data sources. The accuracy of EAA is therefore dependent of the data sources used. Some data sources have very good accuracy and some gives rough estimates. It is not possible to sum it up into a single measure of the accuracy.

However, the assessment is that the overall accuracy is good. There are factors lowering the accuracy and the assessment is that the main factors are model assumptions errors. 

Not applicable to EAA compilation.

Not applicable to EAA compilation.

The first estimates are published about one month before the end of the reference year.

The second estimates are published about 1 month after the end of the refernce year.

Final data is published about 10 months after the end of the reference year.

The data was published in line with the national release calender and transmission to Eurostat was done according to the deadlines in the regulation. 

There are no differences between national EAA data and data sent to Eurostat.

The statistics is comparable over the years since 1990.

EAA is only compiled annually.

There is interdependency between EAA and National accounts. However, the two sources are not fully coherent. The reason is that NA, in the last revision, changed from using EAA as main data source for NACEA01 to the Structural business survey. National accounts is now using av combinationa of EAA and Structural business survey to compile results for NACEA01. Differences in coverage and the use of different data sources are the main reasons why EAA and National accounts are not fully coherent. 

Bridge tables are compiled on an ad hoc basis and not on a regular basis.

The data is coherent.

The burden of the respondents is at a minimum since EAA is mainly based on statistics already collected for other statistical products.

We publish first estimates, second estimates and final data in our statistical database. The disseminated first and second estimates are not revised.

In the case of 'final' EAA data (October n+1) revisions are done for the following reasons:

1. A data source could be preliminary when 'Final data' i published in October n+1

For example, when final data for cereals are produced there is still information on prices for the full crop year missing (1 month is missing). That is, data is in some sence prelimnary.This is the most common revision and is done every year. In the normal case this type of revision only covers year n-1 and they are minor.

2. Changes in methods or data sources for an item in EAA

In cases where we change method or data sources for an item we try to revise data as far back in time as possible. If the new method or data source leads to large revisions we inform the users about this in our publications.

3. Data is incorrect.

This happens very rarely. If this happens, the data is revised as soon as possible and the publication is republished and the front page is marked with the text "Corrected version".

We do not have any specific years when retroplations are carried out. Instead retropolations are done when rewievs of specific items in EAA are conducted. This is done intermittent. One exception is years when the base year in the price statistics are changed, that i every fifth year.

As mentionened in 17.2.2, the only retropolation done on a regular basis is conducted when there is a change in the base year for the price statistics. Prices are then revised back in time until the new base year. Price indexes for the compilation in constant prices are retropolated back until 1990.

The main data sources used are statistics that already exists. For example: Crop production statistics, livestock statistics, animal production statistics and price statistics. For most of the data sources there are binding EU-regulations on reporting data. Administrative data are for example used for information on subsidies on products. In some cases expert estimates or estimates based on infomation from the industry or different kind of associations within the agricultural sector is used.

The data collection methods varies but sample surveys, censuses and administrative data are the most common ones.

The representativeness of the data sources is in general good.

See sheet 18.1.1 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 1 - Components of the Production account - Output' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

The main source used to estimate Intermediate consumption items is bookkeping data from an accounting firm. The holdings in the Swedish farm register are matched with the clients from the accounting firm. We match the holdings with their respective social security number/corporate identity. We then use the holdings that are present both in the Swedish farm register and in the accounting firm, about 7 500 holdings. By using stratification we can count up the costs to represent the whole population.

The producer indexes from the agricultural price statistics are used to calculate the values for t-1. 

For detailed explanations on data sources used, please see remarks under concept 18.1.3.

The main source used to estimate Intermediate consumption items (ICI) is bookkeping data from an accounting firm. The holdings in the Swedish farm register are matched with the clients from the accounting firm. We match the holdings with their respective social security number/corporate identity. We then use the holdings that are present both in the Swedish farm register and in the accounting firm, about 7 500 holdings. In 2020 there were in total about 59 000 holdings in the farm register. By using stratification we can count up the costs for the 7 500 holdings to represent the whole population.

The holdings in the Swedish farm register are stratified according to size class and typology. The holdings that match both registers are given a strata (and a weight) and are sent over to the accounting firm. The accounting firm aggregate each account to strata, so that we can not see how much each holding has spent on various costs. When we receive the values we use the weights that we created in the previous step to aggregate the values so that they will represent the whole population.

Some of the accounts are general, for example there are a few accounts that are general for crop production costs. These accounts are split between different ICI according to a predetermined distribution based on the share of the specific accounts, for example seeds, in relation to the sum of the specific accounts for crop production. The same method is used for accounts that are general for animal production.  Accounts that are general for all production are split between different ICI according to a predetermined distribution based on expert estimates.

Some of the accounts are deductions that the farmers get when buying goods. These accounts are summed up and deducted from the different ICI:s.
We also receive revenues for the holdings. We use this information to try to remove as much of the non-agricultural secondary activities as possible, however we are not able to completely remove all of it, because we cannot separate the costs. Most of the non-agricultural secondary activities that we are able to remove is contract work for snow clearance during the winter. From the revenue accounts that can be related to non-agricultural activities, the accounts possible to separate has been separated. This means that the corresponding costs need to be separated as well. A percentage of the separated revenues are considered to be costs that needs to be deducted from different items in the intermediate consumption. This calculated cost has then been distributed among the items energy, maintenance, other goods and services and compensation of employees.

There are a few items which cover activities not covered by the farm register, for example production of honey, reindeer breeding and dog breeding. The companies that perform these activities are usually not covered by the farm register and as a consequence we do not have any information on revenues and costs from the accounting firm. We calculate the revenues, according to the same principle as for other output items, but we have to estimate the costs as a part of the revenues (expert estimates).

The representativeness of the data sources is in general good.

See sheet 18.1.3 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 2 - Components of the Production account - Intermediate consumption' in the section Annexes at the end of the file. 

The source for 'Compensation of employees' is bookkeping data. Se section 18.1.3 for a general description on how bookkeping data is used.

The main  source for data on 'Other subsidies on production' is IACS, held by the Swedish Board of Agriculture.

The representativeness of theese sources are good.

See sheet 18.1.4 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 3 - Components of the Generation of income account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

 The source for 'Rents to be paid', 'Interests payable' and 'Interest received' is bookkeping data. Se section 18.1.3 for a general description on how bookkeping data is used.

The representativeness of theese sources are good.

See sheet 18.1.5 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 4 - Components of the  Entrepreneurial income account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheets 18.1.6 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 5 - Elements of the Capital account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

EAA-data for year n is updated in september year n+1.  

Normal case: At the same time as EAA for year n is uppdated, in september n+1, also the EAA data for year n-1 and sometimes n-2 are updated.

In case of new data sources or methods used: In cases where we change method or data sources for an item we try to revise data as far back in time as possible to ensure comparability over time.

The Swedish Board of Agriculture has implemented a statistical production process used for all official statistics that is produced. The process follows in principle the statistical process of the UNECE but it is adapted to cover all parts of the European statistics Code of Practice.

Data validation is part of the production process used at the Swedish Board of Agriculture (see  18.3). The main part of the validation consists of validation on macro-level, e.g. check that data seems reasonable comparing time series and that the development of an item seems reasonable taking into account knowledge about recent developments within a specific item. The validation is done by the person responsible for EAA and persons involved in the production process. But before every dissemination and transmission to Eurostat, the results are reviewed by a group of employees att the Statistics Unit who has not been involved in the production process of EAA.  

See sheet 18.5.1.1 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 1 - Components of the Production account - Output' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See also Excel file 'Annex 6 - Calculation methods output'.

See sheet 18.5.1.2 (a) and 18.5.1.2 (b) of the attached Excel file 'Annex 2 - Components of the Production account - Intermediate consumption' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheet 18.5.1.3 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 3 - Components of the Generation of income account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheet 18.5.1.4 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 4 - Components of the Entrepreneurial income account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheets 18.5.1.5 'Annex 5 - Elements of the Capital account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheets 18.5.2.1 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 1 - Components of the Production account - Output' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheet 18.5.2.2 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 2 - Components of the Production account - Intermediate consumption' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheet 18.5.2.3 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 3 - Components of the Generation of income account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheet 18.5.2.4 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 4 - Components of the Entrepreneurial income account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheet 18.5.2.5 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 5 - Elements of the Capital account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file. 

See the attached Excel file 'Annex 7 - Numerical examples' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See the attached Excel file 'Annex 7 - Numerical examples' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See the attached Excel file 'Annex 7 - Numerical examples' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See the attached Excel file 'Annex 7 - Numerical examples' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See the attached Excel file 'Annex 7 - Numerical examples' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheet 18.5.4.1 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 1 - Components of the Production account - Output' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheet 18.5.4.2 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 2 - Components of the Production account - Intermediate consumption' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheet 18.5.5 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 2 - Components of the Production account - Intermediate consumption' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

Calculation of compensation of VAT on Other taxes on production:

Calculation of compensation of VAT on Other subsidies on production:

See sheet 18.6.1 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 1 - Components of the Production account - Output' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheet 18.6.2 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 2 - Components of the Production account - Intermediate consumption' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheet 18.6.3 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 3 - Components of the Generation of income account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheet 18.6.4 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 4 - Components of the Entrepreneurial income account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

See sheet 18.6.5 of the attached Excel file 'Annex 5 - Elements of the capital account' in the section Annexes at the end of the file.

List of abbreviations: