FPS Economy SMEs, Self-Employed and Energy - Statbel (Directorate-general Statistics - Statistics Belgium)

Thematic Directorate Economie

Boulevard du Roi Albert II, 16, North Gate III , 

1000 Bruxelles, Belgium

The data describe the structure of agricultural holdings providing the general characteristics of farms and farmers and information on their land, livestock and labour force.  They also describe production methods, rural development measures and agro-environmental aspects that look at the impact of agriculture on the environment.

The data are used by public, researchers, farmers and policy-makers to better understand the state of the farming sector and the impact of agriculture on the environment. The data follow up the changes in the agricultural sector and provide a basis for decision-making in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and other European Union policies.

The statistical unit is the agricultural holding (farm). The aggregated results are disseminated through statistical tables. The data are presented at different geographical levels and over periods.
The data collections are organized in line with Regulation (EU) 2018/1091 and have a new structure, consisting of a core data set and several modules. The regulation covers the data collections in 2020 (the agricultural census), 2023 and 2026. The data are as comparable and coherent as possible with the other European countries.

Data are arranged in tables using many classifications. Please find below information on most classifications.

The classifications of variables are available in Annex III of Regulation (EU) 2018/1091 and in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1874.

The farm typology means a uniform classification of the holdings based on their type of farming and their economic size. Both are determined on the basis of the standard gross margin (SGM) (until 2007) or standard output (SO) (from 2010 onward) which is calculated for each crop and animal. The farm type is determined by the relative contribution of the different productions to the total standard gross margin or the standard output of the holding.

The territorial classification uses the NUTS classification to break down the regional data. The regional data is available at NUTS level 3.

The statistics cover agricultural holdings undertaking agricultural activities as listed in item 3.5 below and meeting the minimum coverage requirements (thresholds) as listed in item 3.6 below.

The list of core variables is set in Annex III of Regulation (EU) 2018/1091.

The descriptions of the core variables as well as the lists and descriptions of the variables for the modules collected in 2020 are set in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1874.

The following groups of variables are collected in 2020:

• for core: location of the holding, legal personality of the holding, manager, type of tenure of the utilised agricultural area, variables of land, organic farming, irrigation on cultivated outdoor area, variables of livestock, organic production methods applied to animal production;
• for the module "Labour force and other gainful activities": farm management, family labour force, non-family labour force, other gainful activities directly and not directly related to the agricultural holding;
• for the module "Rural development": support received by agricultural holdings through various rural development measures;
• for the module "Animal housing and rural development module":  animal housing, nutrient use and manure on the farm, manure application techniques, facilities for manure.

See sub-category below.

The agricultural holding is a single unit, both technically and economically, that has a single management and that undertakes economic activities in agriculture in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006 belonging to groups:

- A.01.1: Growing of non-perennial crops

- A.01.2: Growing of perennial crops

- A.01.3: Plant propagation

- A.01.4: Animal production

- A.01.5: Mixed farming or

- The “maintenance of agricultural land in good agricultural and environmental condition” of group A.01.6 within the economic territory of the Union, either as its primary or secondary activity.

Regarding activities of class A.01.49, only the activities “Raising and breeding of semi-domesticated or other live animals” (with the exception of raising of insects) and “Bee-keeping and production of honey and beeswax” are included.

In some cases it occurs that a few farmers are doing one declaration for several single units.

See sub-categories below.

The thresholds of agricultural holdings are available in the annex.

The same population of agricultural holdings defined in annex  item 3.6.1

The above answer holds for the modules ‘Labour force and other gainful activities’ and ‘Rural development’. The module ‘Machinery and equipment’ is not collected in 2020.

The subset of the population of agricultural holdings defined in item 3.6.2 with at least one of the following: bovine animals, pigs, sheep, goats, poultry.

See sub-categories below.

The entire territory of the country.

Not applicable

The administrative building (this is mostly also the residence of the farmer)

Farm structure statistics in Belgium cover the period from 1^st October 2019 until 30^th September 2020 onwards. Older time series are described in the previous quality reports (national methodological reports).

The 2020 data are processed (by Eurostat) with 2017 standard output coefficients (calculated as a 5-year average of the period 2015-2019). For more information, you can consult the definition of the standard output.

Two kinds of units are generally used:

• the units of measurement for the variables (area in hectares, livestock in heads or LSU (livestock units), labour force in persons or AWU (annual working units), standard output in Euro, places for animal housing etc.) and
• the number of agricultural holdings having these characteristics.

See sub-categories below.

From the end of February until the end of April 2020, the farmers declared their main crops to IACS. If a crop was not sown at the moment of the declaration, they must give the area of crops that would be sown.

Second crops were not taken into account for IFS. 

The 12-month period ending on 15 October within the reference year 2020.

The reference day 15 October within the reference year 2020.

The 12-month period ending on 15 October. This period includes the reference day used for livestock and animal housing.

The 12-month period ending on 30 September within the reference year 2020.

The three-year period ending on 31 December 2020.

The reference day 15 October  within the reference year 2020.

See sub-categories below.

The legal basis of the agricultural survey was laid down in the Royal decree of June 9, 2014 relating to the organisation agricultural surveys carried out by the Directorate-general Statistics - Statistics Belgium. This Royal decree was based on the law of July 4, 1962 concerning public statistics, modified by the law of August 1, 1985 and (modified by the law of) March 22, 2006.

http://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/mopdf/2014/07/14_1.pdf#Page66

2014

For all administrative data that were used,  Agreements were made between the Directorate-general Statistics - Statistics Belgium and the different organisations, namely:

- Departement Landbouw en Visserij

- Mestbank

- Wallonie Agriculture SPW

- Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FASFC)

Strict confidentiality of all collected data is laid down by the Statistics law of July 4, 1962.

See sub-categories below.

See sub-categories below.

For tables with size classes, the classes with less than 3 holdings are regrouped. If it isn’t possible to regroup them we put ‘:’.

Results at municipal level: the results are not disseminated when there are less than 5 holdings in the municipality. We aggregate all these municipalities to one municipality called ‘confidential municipalities’.

See sub-categories below.

Micro-data are disseminated only with an official agreement of the Commission for the protection of Privacy. Requests for micro-data are therefore dealt on case by case basis. 

Only anonymous microdata are transmitted.

Crops and animals : 5 August 2021

Other characteristics : March 2022

https://statbel.fgov.be/en/calendar/2021

https://statbel.fgov.be/en/calendar

Users are informed by the release calender on the website from Statbel : https://statbel.fgov.be/en

Not applicable

Crops and animals : yearly

See sub-categories below.

http://statbel.fgov.be/en/news/cereal-crops-decreased-almost-3-2020

See sub-categories below.

http://statbel.fgov.be/en/news/cereal-crops-decreased-almost-3-2020

See sub-categories below.

 Not available.

Not applicable

See sub-category below.

Not available

Not requested.

See sub-categories below.

Not requested.

Not applicable

Not applicable

Not applicable

There is no documentation available on quality. 

See sub-categories below.

Not applicable

Not available

Not available

The list of characteristics for the census is determined by a group of experts on agriculture.

Several IFS characteristics are integrated to meet other EU-requirements and national information needs.

Characteristics surveyed only for national purposes:

- The presence of an eventually successor for the farm holder

- Short food supply scheme

The users of those characteristics are: the regional administrations of agriculture and environmental, the national Bank of Belgium, professional organisations, research centers, universities.

- More detailed information about livestock was surveyed to comply with the Regulation (EC) No 1165/2008 of 19 November 2008 concerning livestock and meat statistics and repealing Council Directives 93/23/EEC, 93/24/EEC and 93/25/EEC.

- Detailed information about horticultural crops for Wallonia was surveyed to comply with the Regulation (EC) No 543/2009 of the European Parliament and of the    Council of concerning crop statistics.

- Information about milk processing at farm level was surveyed to comply with the milk statistics.

All user needs are met

Not applicable

Not available

Not applicable

Information on low- and zero prevalence variables is available on: Eurostat's website.

Not applicable for Integrated Farm Statistics as the not collected variables, not-significant variables and not-existent variables are completed with 0.

See categories below.

See sub-categories below.

Please find the relative standard errors for the main variables in the annex.

There is no case of non-compliant precision requirements for BE.

Usual analytical formulas for post-stratified estimator with post-strata identical to sampling strata. 

See sub-categories below.

See sub-categories below.

The over-coverage rate is available in the annex. The over-coverage rate is unweighted.
The over-coverage rate is calculated as the share of ineligible holdings to the holdings designated for the core data collection. The ineligible holdings include those holdings with unknown eligibility status that are not imputed nor re-weighted for (therefore considered ineligible).
The over-coverage rate is calculated over the holdings in the main frame and if applicable frame extension, for which core data are sent to Eurostat. 

Not available

Not requested.

See sub-categories below.

0%

Not available

Not available

Not applicable.

Not applicable

See sub-categories below.

When the values were too high or when there was an incoherence in the data we contacted the farmer and asked to correct their data. High values were detected by using thresholds. There is no specific list of characteristics. It can occur to every numeric characteristic.

Not available

See sub-categories below.

The unit non-response rate is in the annex of item 13.3.1.1. The unit non-response rate is unweighted.
The unit non-response rate is calculated as the share of eligible non-respondent holdings to the eligible holdings. The eligible holdings include those holdings with unknown eligibility status which are imputed or re-weighted for (therefore considered eligible).
The unit non-response rate is calculated over the holdings in the main frame and if applicable frame extension, for which core data are sent to Eurostat.

None

It is impossible to calculate the non-response rate because administrative data were combined with survey data. Item non-response was minimized by using built-in routings and checks in the online forms. As much as possible answering was made mandatory.

Concerning the paper forms, telephone follow ups were made with the farmers.

The highest non-response was observed for variables that were considerate as sensitive, such as the importance of the other gainful activities to the agricultural holding and the labour input and variables related to nutrient use and manure on the farm.

Other variables were difficult to answer, especially the number of months a farm can store manure.

Not available

See sub-categories below.

Not applicable

Imputation with SAS

Not available

Not applicable

See sub-categories below.

Final results area and livestock : T + 7 M

Final results other characteristics : T + 16 M

See sub-categories below.

See sub-categories below.

Not requested.

 - 30 days

See sub-categories below.

Not applicable, because there are no mirror flows in Integrated Farm Statistics.

See sub-categories below.

The agricultural activities are the same as the ones from the Regulation 2018/1091. The majority of the holdings in the farm structure survey are single units. In IACS which is used as population, there are a few farmers who are doing one declaration for several single units. This means that the data recorded in a single record (agricultural holding) covers more than one agricultural holding. (But the reverse also happens.) The problem occurs for only a few cases. It’s impossible to convert the data because in the administrative data on area we cannot see which parcel belongs to which single unit.

Not available (IACS)

See sub-categories below.

UAA excluding kitchen garden:

Total : 1377016 ha

covered by the thresholds: 1368122 ha

Attained coverage: 99.35%

LSU :

Total : 3681717,34

covered by the thresholds: 3663334,24

Attained coverage: 99,50% 

The thresholds applied for the national data collection are the same from the thresholds applied for the data sent to Eurostat.

Not applicable.

See sub-categories below.

No data with different definitions and classification of variables are collected, sent to Eurostat or published.

There are only differences in the level of detail. Some variables are more detailed. This is the case for horticultural variables and variables that are necessary to comply with other EU-requirements and national information needs.

The information is available in the annex.
The number of working hours and days in a year for a full-time job correspond to one annual working unit (AWU) in the country. One annual work unit corresponds to the work performed by one person who is occupied on an agricultural holding on a full-time basis. Annual working units are used to calculate the farm work on the agricultural holdings.

The information is available in the annex of item 15.1.4.1.1.

The information is available in the annex of item 15.1.4.1.1.

No deviations from the Regulation (EU) 2018/1091.

- rabbits for fattening

- bees

- equidae

- other

Not applicable

See sub-categories below.

The collected data, data sent to Eurostat and published data are in compliance with the reference periods/days set in Regulation (EU) 2018/1091.

Not applicable

Not applicable

Not applicable

Not applicable

See sub-categories below.

There are no deviations in the national standards and rules for certification of organic products from Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007

Not applicable

There are no differences in methods across regions within the country.

Due to the availibility of different administrative data from the regions, two forms were established. One for the Flemish agricultural holdings and one for the Walloon agricultural holdings.

See sub-categories below.

definition of agricultural holding: >50 years

thresholds: 9 years

geographical coverage: >50 years

definition and classification of variables: >50 years

reference periods/dates for animals: 6 years

reference periods/dates for labour force: 4 years

reference periods/dates for crops: >50 years

See sub-categories below.

Regulation (EU) 2018/1091 newly considers agricultural holdings with only fur animals. However our country does not raise fur animals.

See sub-categories below.

The thresholds were changed to be in line with Regulation (EU) 2018/1091. This change has no impact on the main variables.

See sub-categories below.

Not applicable

See sub-categories below.

Legal personality of the agricultural holding:

In IFS, there is a new class (“shared ownership”) for the legal personality of the holding compared to FSS 2016, which trigger fluctuations of holdings in the classes of sole holder holdings and group holdings.

Other livestock n.e.c.:

In FSS 2016, deer were included in this class, but in IFS they are classified separately.

Also in FSS 2016, there was a class for the collection of equidae. That has been dropped and Equidae are included in IFS in "other livestock n.e.c."

Livestock units:

In FSS 2016, turkeys, ducks, geese, ostriches and other poultry were considered each one in a separate class with a coefficient of 0.03 for all the classes except for ostriches (coefficient 0.035). In IFS 2020, the coefficients were adjusted accordingly, with turkeys remaining at 0.03, ostriches remaining at 0.35, ducks adjusted to 0.01, geese adjusted to 0.02 and other poultry fowls n.e.c. adjusted to 0.001.

Organic animals:

While in FSS only fully compliant (certified converted) animals were included, in IFS both animals under conversion and fully converted are to be included.

See sub-categories below.

The reference period for manure in the FSS 2016 was from 1st October 2015 to 30th September 2016.

In the IFS2020, the reference period for manure was the 12-month period ending on 15 October. This period included the reference day used for livestock and animal housing.

See sub-categories below.

Not applicable

See sub-categories below.

Not applicable to Integrated Farm Statistics, because there are no sub annual data collections in agriculture.

Not applicable, because Integrated Farm Statistics have no relevance for national accounts.

See sub-categories below.

In 2020 there was one data collection for all agricultural statistics.

See sub-categories below.

PERC: For the figure of IFS (VALUE), PERC=PERCT and for Landuse (VALUE_EUROBASE), PERC=PERCT+PERCS. The figure for Landuse does not include Christmas trees.

The data are internally consistent. This is ensured by the application of a wide range of validation rules.

See sub-categories below.

We use as far as possible administrative data. For 2020: almost all the cultivated areas were provided by the IACS, cattle and pigs were provided by SANITEL (registration system of animals)some variables for AHMM are administrative data from he Vlaamse Landmaatschappij.

In order to reduce administrative burden, the same data may only be collected once (‘collect once – use often’). This policy is also applied in the census.

See sub-categories below.

The core and the module labour force were carried out as a census. As there is one form it is impossible to separate the average duration to fill the variables for the core and the LF. 

Average: 28 minutes

See item 16.3.1

Not relevant

Average : 44 minutes

Belgium publishes only a revision for their statistics when errors are discovered after data have been placed in the public domain.

The FSS dataset in Belgium is not placed in the public domain, so there is no revision.

There was no revision for the FSS. 

Not requested.

See sub-categories below.

See sub-categories below.

Statistical Farm Register 

See sub-categories below.

Not applicable for 2019/2020.

Not applicable for 2019/2020.

Not applicable for 2019/2020.

See sub-categories below.

Not applicable

Not applicable

Not applicable

See sub-categories below.

Not applicable

Not applicable

Not applicable

See sub-categories below.

Not applicable

Not applicable

Not applicable

See sub-categories below.

The sample is a stratified simple random sample of agricultural Holding. The stratification is made on 3 criteria: location (NUTS1) , type of livestock (7 categories) and size of the holding (2 categories). Large holding are covered exhaustively. Sampling fractions are determine to largely fulfill precision requirement, taking into account expected response rate.

In all NUTS1 and livestock type, the largest unit are covered exhaustively 

Sampling fractions are determine to largely fulfill precision requirement, taking into account expected response rate

sample selection : SAS

See sub-categories below.

The information is available on Eurostat's website.

See the attached Excel file in the Annex.

The information on innovative approaches is available on  Eurostat's website.

The agricultural census is conducted every 10 years. The decennial agricultural census is complemented by sample or census-based data collections organised every 3-4 years in-between.

See sub-categories below.

Please find the questionnaire in annex.

See sub-categories below.

Blaise and SAS

See information in next items

Imputation rate for some variables : 

A2300F_EXRY_T=1,88% 

STCAP_COMP=3,39%

WH_MAN_AWU_PC=2,45%

WH_HLD_AWU_PC=9,60%

UAAT_IB=13,61%

These imputation rates are unweighted.

Covered under Data compilation.

Not applicable to Integrated Farm Statistics, because it collects structural data on agriculture.

See sub-categories below.

CAP – Common Agricultural Policy

CAPI –  Computer Assisted Personal Interview

CATI – Computer Assisted Telephone Interview

CAWI – Computer Assisted Web Interview

FSS – Farm Structure Survey

IACS – Integrated Administration and Control System

IFS – Integrated Farm Statistics

LSU – Livestock units

NACE – Nomenclature of Economic Activities

NUTS – Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics

PAPI – Paper and Pencil Interview

SO – Standard output

UAA – Utilised agricultural area

STATBEL (TDE) - Statistic Belgium (Thematic Directorate Economie)

STATBEL (CDC) - Statistic Belgium (Data Collection)

STATBEL (CMC) - Statistic Belgium (Methodology)

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