Statistics Estonia

Economic and Environmental Statistics Department

Tatari 51, 10134 Tallinn, Estonia 

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 organised 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 2.

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 manure management 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.

See sub-categories below.

The thresholds of agricultural holdings are available in the annex.

The same population of agricultural holdings defined in 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.

Within criteria used to establish the geographical location of the holding, 'other' means the location which is reported by the holder (on the level of settlement) as the main location of the holding. This information is based on IACS and it is used as additional information while determining the geographical location of the holding.

Farm structure statistics in our country cover the period from 2001 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 (1,000) heads or LSUs (livestock units), labour force in persons or AWUs (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.

The use of land refers to the reference year 2020. In the case of successive crops from the same piece of land, the land use refers to a crop that is harvested during the reference year, regardless of when the crop in question is sown.

The 12-month period ending on 1 September within the reference year 2020.

The reference day is 1 September within the reference year 2020.

The 12-month period ending on 1 September 2020. This period includes the reference day used for livestock and animal housing.

The 12-month period ending on 1 September within the reference year 2020.

The three-year period ending on 31 December 2020.

The reference day is 1 September within the reference year 2020.

See sub-categories below.

Official Statistics Act

Government Regulation "List of Statistical Activities of Statistics Estonia for 2020-2024"

https://www.riigiteataja.ee/en/eli/ee/506012015002/consolide/current

https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/311022020006 (in Estonian)

Official Statistics Act - 2010

Government Regulation "List of Statistical Activities of Statistics Estonia for 2020-2024" - 2020

Subsection 28 (4) of Official Statistics Act: At the request of a producer of official statistics, controllers of databases shall submit the data collected in the administrative records and databases specified in subsection 29 (1) of this Act.

Section 29 of Official Statistics Act. Use of administrative records and databases

(1) Upon the performance of statistical activities, a producer of official statistics shall primarily use data collected in administrative records and databases as well as data generated or collected in the course of the activities of state and local government authorities, legal persons in public law and private law, if such data allow the performance of statistical activities complying with the quality criteria of official statistics.

(2) A producer of official statistics has the right to make proposals for amending the composition of data and the classifications used in the administrative records and databases, if the coverage of data and the composition, level of detail and quality of data in the administrative records and databases do not allow the production of official statistics complying with the quality criteria of official statistics.

Data that permit direct or indirect identification of a statistical unit, thereby disclosing individual information, are confidential data. 

The treatment of confidential data is regulated by the Procedure for Protection of Data Collected and Processed by Statistics Estonia: http://www.stat.ee/dokumendid/19410.

The producer of official statistics disseminates data collected for the production of official statistics for public use only in a form that precludes the possibility of direct or indirect identification of a statistical unit.

See sub-categories below.

See sub-categories below.

The data are published and transmitted without characteristics that permit identification of respondents, and are classified into groups of at least three holdings. Also, the data are not published if the share of data relating to a particular holding in the aggregate data is too high. 

See sub-categories below.

The dissemination of data collected for the purpose of producing official statistics is guided by the requirements provided for in sections 34 and 35 of the Official Statistics Act.

Scientists can, under special contracts, use confidential microdata for research purposes at the safe centre on Statistics Estonia's premises or through remote access. They can make the analysis but only an employee of Statistics Estonia can send the research results to the user's e-mail address after the disclosure control has been performed. 

Notifications about the dissemination of statistics are published in the release calendar, which is available on the website.

https://www.stat.ee/en/calendar

All users have been granted equal access to official statistics: the dissemination dates of official statistics are announced in advance and no user category is provided access to official statistics before other users. Official statistics are first published in the statistical database. If there is also a news release, it is published simultaneously with data in the statistical database. Official statistics are available on the website at 8:00 a.m. on the date announced in the release calendar.

The methodology is described in the Integrated farm statistics manual.

Data are disseminated at the national level every 3-4 years.

See sub-categories below.

https://www.stat.ee/en/uudised/eesti-pollumajandustootmine-koondub-suurettevotetesse

https://www.stat.ee/en/uudised/pollumajandust-iseloomustab-koondumine-kontsernidesse-ja-osaajatoo

See sub-categories below.

Not applicable.

See sub-categories below.

https://andmed.stat.ee/en/stat

See sub-category below.

The data serve as input for other statistical activities, such as Crop Production and Economic Accounts for Agriculture.

Not requested.

See sub-categories below.

Not requested.

The quality report is published on Eurostat's webpage. ESMS metadata are published at https://www.stat.ee/en/find-statistics/methodology-and-quality/esms-metadata/21210.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

The quality report is delivered to Eurostat. 

See sub-categories below.

Statistics Estonia is guided by the requirements stipulated in section 7 “Principles and quality criteria of producing official statistics” of the Official Statistics Act.

Statistics Estonia performs all statistical activities according to an international model (Generic Statistical Business Process Model – GSBPM). According to the GSBPM, the final phase of statistical activities is overall evaluation using information gathered in each phase or sub-process; this information can take many forms, including feedback from users, process metadata, system metrics and suggestions from employees. This information is used to prepare the evaluation report which outlines all the quality problems related to the specific statistical activity and serves as input for improvement actions.

Validation rules will be improved, as well as the software for describing questionnaires.

In general, the data quality is good.

Eurostat performs the consultations with EU-level and international users. At the national level, the main user of these data is the Ministry of Rural Affairs. The Ministry of the Environment is also a user of environment-related data.

The national characteristics are mostly not used in this survey. Still, land use data are collected in more detail than required by the IFS legislation in order to fulfil the requirements of crop statistics legislation. The sown areas of the following crops were surveyed: separately, winter wheat and spring wheat (instead of CLND 004), winter barley and spring barley (instead of CLND 007), field peas and field beans (instead of CLND 015), winter rape and turnip rape and spring rape and turnip rape (instead of CLND 022), fresh vegetables outdoor or under low protective cover and strawberries outdoor or under low protective cover (instead of CLND 043), black fallow and green fallow (instead of CLND 049). These characteristics were added as they are required by Regulation (EC) No 543/2009. The reason is that it is not possible to request the data twice – separately for the IFS and then in more detail for the Crop Production Survey.

There is no information about unmet user needs.

Not applicable.

Statistics Estonia conducts reputation and user satisfaction surveys.

2021

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.

We do not have cases where estimated RSEs are above threshold.

Information about the method used for the estimation of relative errors is presented in the annex. 

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 in 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 based on the holdings in the main frame for which core data are sent to Eurostat. 

Core indicators were surveyed as a census, no re-weighting was used and therefore ineligible units were just not taken into account when calculating totals.

For modules surveyed through a sample, ineligible units were also not taken into account and weights of all units were recalculated considering the corrected population.

Not requested.

See sub-categories below.

Under-coverage is estimated to be very low as the quality of the statistical farm register is good (most units are registered in administrative registers).

Under-coverage is estimated to be very low as the statistical farm register is regularly updated on the basis of many sources.

Not available.

The misclassification error is estimated to be low as all stratification variables are updated before compiling the survey frame.

The contact error was low as contact data were updated before data collection on the basis of many sources.

See sub-categories below.

The most difficult questions were MAHM 047 "Net export of slurry/liquid manure from the farm" and MAHM 048 "Net export of solid manure from the farm". The reason is that holders do not have information about these quantities, and if they try to give an estimate, these estimations may not be accurate. The data were checked using the number of livestock, manure coefficients and area of utilised agricultural land. The data were checked also on the aggregated level. 

Difficult questions are also those related to manure storage facilities and capacity (from MAHM 057 to MAHM 070). If there is more than one manure storage facility, it may be difficult to provide the percentages of manure stored in different storage facilities. Data about capacity also seem difficult as holders tend to state the months the manure is actually stored (the time is shorter) and not the capacity.

Information about other major measurement errors is not known. The questionnaires were carefully designed, they were in the electronic format and included several arithmetical and logical checks. The majority of the information was collected by trained interviewers.  

Several validation rules are used during data collection and data processing in order to minimise the risk of measurement errors.

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 in 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 based on the holdings in the main frame for which core data are sent to Eurostat.

The unit non-response rate was very low and no special analysis was made.

Item non-responses cannot exist as only electronic questionnaires were used and they were designed so that it was not possible to proceed without answering the necessary questions. There were only a few cases where respondents were not able/ready to estimate the quantities of exported/imported manure and then a special code was agreed to be inserted in order to be able to continue with the questionnaire.

MAHM 047 "Net export of slurry/liquid manure from the farm" and MAHM 048 "Net export of solid manure from the farm".

Not available.

See sub-categories below.

Due to several arithmetical and logical checks, it is practically impossible for processing errors to exist in the data.

Only specialists from the Data Acquisition and Processing Department and the Economic and Environmental Statistics Department, who were directly involved in data processing, were authorised to make corrections.

Units were imputed if their lands or livestock were registered in administrative registers. So the most important information used during imputation was the data on crops and livestock (of the same unit) available from the administrative register.

Not applicable.

See sub-categories below.

Preliminary results were released on 27 January 2021, i.e. about 1 month from the last day of the reference year. 

All results were published at T+5 months. Still, the results will be final only after their final acceptance by Eurostat. 

See sub-categories below.

See sub-categories below.

Not requested.

Data are published according to the planned timetable.

See sub-categories below.

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

See sub-categories below.

There are no differences in the definition of an agricultural holding when compared to Regulation (EU) 2018/1091.

Not applicable.

See sub-categories below.

While compiling the frame, the threshold of Regulation (EU) 2018/1091 was used. It means that the smallest units were not covered. Approximately 0.7% of utilized agricultural area and 0.3% of livestock units were not covered.

There are no differences between the national threshold and the threshold of agricultural holdings used for the data sent to Eurostat.

Still, within the module "Animal housing and manure management", the topics "Nutrient use and manure on the farm" and "Manure application techniques" covered all holdings, not only those with bovine animals, pigs, sheep, goats or poultry.

The reason for differences in the coverage of the topics "Nutrient use and manure on the farm" and "Manure application techniques" is that an important part of nutrients are used in holdings without livestock.

See sub-categories below.

There are no deviations from Regulation (EU) 2018/1091 and the EU handbook.

The information is available in the annex. 
The number of working hours and days in a year for a full-time job corresponds to one annual work 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 work units are used to calculate the farm work on 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 national livestock coefficients are used.

There are no differences between the types of livestock included under the heading “Other livestock n.e.c.” and the types of livestock that should be included according to the EU handbook.

Not applicable.

See sub-categories below.

In case of reference periods/days, there are no deviations from Regulation (EU) 2018/1091.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

See sub-categories below.

There are no national standards and rules for certification of organic products that deviate from Council regulation (EC) No 834/2007.

Not applicable.

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

See sub-categories below.

1

See sub-categories below.

Regulation (EU) 2018/1091 newly considers agricultural holdings with only fur animals. However, even if fur animals are raised in our country, holdings with only fur animals are not included in our data collection because they do not meet the thresholds. The thresholds for animals are expressed in livestock units (LSU) and fur animals are not associated with LSU coefficients. We did not add thresholds related to fur animals; there is no reason to do so (fur animals do not contribute towards 98% of the total LSU).

See sub-categories below.

Due to the changes in thresholds, the smallest holdings are excluded. Therefore, all numbers of holdings are affected. The impact on total utilised agricultural area and number of livestock units is minor, but the impact on some crops and livestock species is remarkable.

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, 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.

Oil seeds of hemp

In IFS, they are included under “Other oil seed crops” while in FSS 2016 they were included under “Hemp”.

See sub-categories below.

Not applicable.

See sub-categories below.

Not applicable.

Area of vegetables and strawberries grown in rotation with non-horticultural crops  changes by years and there is an increasing trend. The reason is that there is a need to use crop rotation, it also increases yields.

What concerns rye, there is a trend that area of winter cereals is increasing (mainly due to their larger yield). At the same time area of winter cereals depends on the sowing conditions in autumn and weather conditions in winter, there is also a need to follow crop rotation.

The area of other oilseed crops has increased as it includes now also oilseeds of hemp. Area of hemp has increased a lot. Previously it was included under heading Hemp.

There is also a trend that area of aromatic, medicinal and culinary plants increases.

The number of sheep has decreased from 2016 to 2020 and the number of breeding females has decreased as well. Number of sheep and their breeding females has been received from the Register of Agricultural Animals of the Agricultural Registers and Information Board. Data were prefilled into the questionnaires and it was possible to correct them if necessary. Data have been checked with the Agricultural Registers and Information Board and are correct. Due to the IFS threshold, smaller part of the holdings with breeding female sheep may be also below the threshold.

Number of breeding female rabbits has decreased, as number of holdings keeping them has decreased and important part of holdings have finished keeping breeding female rabbits. It is possible that part of the holdings with breeding female rabbits are also below the threshold, but there is a general trend that smaller holdings finish their activity and production concentrates into larger holdings.

Data of other gainful activities directly related to the holding are collected only from natural persons. The number of regular employees having OGA related to the holding is quite small and therefore their changes in percentages may be quite high. The increase is related also to the fact that in 2016 only holdings where sole holders are also the managers were covered, but in 2020 all sole holder holdings were covered.

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.

IFS micro level data were compared to the other data collections in agriculture, namely “Annual Crop Statistics” and “Animal Production Statistics”. The reasons for differences were as follows:

a) related to the differences in units (in IFS, parts of units may be merged);

b) differences with animal production statistics occurred due to the different reference dates.

See sub-categories below.

During the process of validation of IFS data, Eurostat made a cross-domain analysis between IFS micro data and Crops and Animals annual statistics, on both relative and absolute terms.

The results of this cross-domain analysis are presented here:

IFS vs CULTIVATED AREA in relative terms

Discrepancies were found for variables F0000 fruits, berries and nuts outdoors,  I1190 other oil seed crops - outdoor and I9000 other industrial crops n.e.c.

Estonia explained that the areas of fruits and berries are the same in crop statistics and IFS. In crop statistics, F0000 in table 3 refers to the production areas, i.e areas that can potentially be harvested in the reference harvest year (according to the methodology and handbook). All of the non-producing areas such as new plantations that have not yet started to produce, are excluded. In crop statistics, in table 4, under permanent crops, the whole area of permanent crops is taken into account.

What concerns I1190 and I9000, in IFS, I1190 includes both hemp oilseeds and also few other industrial crops of which main part are oilseeds crops, like mustard etc.  IFS data are correct and Estonia has to correct relevant crop statistics tables, i.e to move the hectares of hemp for oil from "other industrial crops n.e.c" to "other oil seed crops".

As regards the cross-domain checks on IFS vs CULTIVATED AREA in absolute terms and IFS vs ANIMAL POPULATION in relative terms the checks made did not reveal any value out of threshold.

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

See sub-categories below.

Detailed data about crops were collected in order to avoid duplicate data collection in the Crop Production Survey.

In order to reduce costs, all holdings could provide their data electronically. In order to reduce the burden, administrative data were used as much as possible. 

Efficiency gains are related to output tables which were partly compiled by using R software.

See sub-categories below.

The average duration of collection of the IFS 2020 questionnaire was 30 minutes. There is no information about the separate durations for core and modules.

The average duration of collection of the IFS 2020 questionnaire was 30 minutes. There is no information about the separate duration for core and modules.

Not relevant (data were collected from the administrative register).

The average duration of collection of the IFS 2020 questionnaire was 30 minutes. There is no information about the separate duration for core and modules.

There are no planned revisions of published data. 

There are no planned revisions of published data.  

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.

The stratification variables were standard output, type of farming and type of production (organic/conventional), same as in FSS 2016.

Within the full coverage strata were holdings with: a) SO >= 100,000 euros; b) farming types 2 and 3 and SO >= 25,000 euros; c) farming type 5 and SO >= 4,000 euros; d) farming type 9; e) new holdings.

The sample size was decided on the basis of the relevant analysis made using FSS 2016 data.

See sub-categories below.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

See sub-categories below.

The same sample was used as for the module "Labour force and other gainful activities". Only the data of holdings that have cattle, pigs, sheep, goats or poultry are sent to Eurostat.

Within the full coverage strata were holdings with: a) SO >= 100,000 euros; b) farming types 2 and 3 and SO >= 25,000 euros; c) farming type 5 and SO >= 4,000 euros; d) farming type 9; e) new holdings.

The sample size was decided on the basis of the relevant analysis made using FSS 2016 data.

The software tool used for sample selection was 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 and the quality methods applied 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 the annex.

See sub-categories below.

Validation rules were used in the questionnaires and within special data processing software. Additional validations were done through special queries.

The weights of the module's sample were adjusted for non-response. Holdings outside the scope (over-coverage) were not taken into account.

For core variables (like UAA etc.), the unweighted imputation rate was 1.9%. The total number of agricultural holdings was 11,369 and the number of units that did not respond to the questionnaire was 212. While imputing data on land and animals, the current year’s administrative data on these holdings were used.

For variables in the sample-based modules, the unweighted imputation rate was only 0.4%. The total size of the modules was 4,798 and imputation was used only for units which belong to the 100% stratum and which did not respond to the questionnaire. The number of such holdings was 20.

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

No additional comments.