Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Statistical unit
1.3. Contact name
Irene Rosokivi
1.4. Contact person function
Senior statistician
1.5. Contact mail address
Natural Resources Institute Finland
Statistical services
PL 2
00791 Helsinki
1.6. Contact email address
irene.rosokivi@luke.fi
1.7. Contact phone number
+35802905326870
1.8. Contact fax number
+358 29 532 6101
2.1. Metadata last certified
30 June 2023
2.2. Metadata last posted
4 July 2023
2.3. Metadata last update
4 July 2023
3.1. Data description
The collected statistics for the country cover the following data:
Certified registered organic operators (referring to their main or secondary activity) (expressed in number of operators)
Certified registered organic processors who manufacture organic products (as their main or secondary activity) (expressed in number of processors)
Certified organic crop area (under conversion and fully converted) (expressed in hectares)
Certified organic crop production from fully converted area (expressed in 1 000 kg)
Certified organic livestock (expressed in heads of live animals)
Production of certified organic products of animalorigin (expressed in 1 000 kg of carcass weight and in thousand eggs)
Production of certified organic milk products (Produced on farms or Processed on farms or by dairy enterprises) and Honey and products of bee-keeping (expressed in 1 000 kg of products obtained)
Certified organic aquaculture sold by producers (expressed in 1 000 kg live weight)
The reference area of the statistics consists of the whole of Finland, including Åland. The statistics are compiled for the whole of Finland.
3.8. Coverage - Time
Data is available starting from the beginning of 2005.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
Certified registered organic operators (referring to their main or secondary activity) (expressed in number of operators)
Certified registered organic processors who manufacture organic products (as their main or secondary activity) (expressed in number of processors)
Certified organic croparea (under conversion and fully converted) (expressed in hectares)
Certified organic cropproduction from fully converted area (expressed in 1 000 kg)
Certified organic livestock (expressed in heads of live animals)
Production of certified organic products of animal origin (expressed in 1 000 kg of carcass weight and in thousand eggs)
Production of certified organic milk products (Produced on farms or Processed on farms or by dairy enterprises) and Honey and products of bee-keeping (expressed in 1 000 kg of products obtained)
Certified organic aquaculture sold by producers (expressed in 1 000 kg live weight)
1st of January 2022 - 31 th of December 2022
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
The data sources for organic farming statistics are mainly administrative registers. Luke collects data by statistical surveys. Other agencies are responsible for data collection and quality of the administrative registers. Luke compares the data from different sources and is responsible for final validation of data before sending it to Eurostat.
Different agencies are responsible for the quality of their registers but it has been noted that there are corrections to be made to the data and the totals do not add up as required.
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
The data sources for organic farming statistics are mainly administrative registers. Luke collects data by statistical surveys. Other agencies are responsible for data collection and quality of the administrative registers. Luke compares the data from different sources and is responsible for final validation of data before sending it to Eurostat. Different agencies are responsible for the quality of their registers but it has been noted that there are corrections to be made to the data and the totals do not add up as required.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
Confidentiality is a base principle of statistics and assures the confidential processing of data provided by informants, and the Natural Resources Institute Finland has undertaken to follow this principle. Micro-data is confidential and must never be released for administrative decision-making, investigation, surveillance, legal proceedings, or similar purposes.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
The confidentiality of data collected for statistical purposes is guaranteed according to the Statistics Act (280/2004), the Personal Data Act (523/1999), the Act on the Openness of Government Activities (621/1999), and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (2016/679). Data is protected at all stages of processing using the necessary physical and technological solutions. The staff only has access to information necessary for their duties. Unauthorised people do not have access to spaces in which micro-data is processed. Staff members have signed a non-disclosure agreement when entering duty. Intentional breach of confidentiality will be penalised.
8.1. Release calendar
Luke publishes the following data on organic farming: data on organic crop and horticultural production, organic egg production, organic milk production and organic meat production. This data is published as part of the normal statistical production and contains much more limited information on organic production than normal production.
8.2. Release calendar access
Link to Statistical Releases Calendar 2023 Statistical Releases Calendar 2023 | Natural Resources Institute Finland (luke.fi) The publication dates are confirmed in autumn together with the action plans. The release calendar of the following year is published for users in the end of the year. The release calendar holds data on the dates of future publications. The publication dates are published in the calendar at first with an accuracy of one week, and two months prior to the publication date with an accuracy of a day. The calendar also contains direct links to already published statistical publication.
8.3. Release policy - user access
Dissemination of the Naural Resources Institute Finlans are published online on weekdays at 9:00. Data is public after it has been published on the website.
The publication dates are confirmed in autumn together with the action plans. The release calendar of the following year is published for users in the end of the year. Statistical Releases Calendar 2023 | Natural Resources Institute Finland (luke.fi) The release calendar holds data on the dates of future publications. The publication dates are published in the calendar at first with an accuracy of one week, and two months prior to the publication date with an accuracy of a day. The calendar also contains direct links to already published statistical publication.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
Not applicable.
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
Not applicable.
10.3. Dissemination format - online database
Not applicable.
10.3.1. Data tables - consultations
Not applicable.
10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access
Not applicable.
10.5. Dissemination format - other
Luke publishes the following data on organic farming: data on organic crop and horticultural production, organic egg production, organic milk production and organic meat production.This data is published as part of the normal statistical production and contains much more limited information on organic production compared to normal production. The full data from this survey will be published by Eurostat.
10.5.1. Metadata - consultations
Not applicable.
10.6. Documentation on methodology
10.6. Documentation on methodology
10.6.1. Metadata completeness - rate
Not applicable.
10.7. Quality management - documentation
Not applicable.
11.1. Quality assurance
The Natural Resources Institute Finland follows the Code of Practice and the Quality Assurance Framework of European statistics when compiling statistics. The Code of Practice concern the independence and accountability of statistics authorities, and the quality of processes and published data. The principles are compatible with and supplement the Principles of Official Statistics, agreed upon by the United Nations Statistical Commission. The quality criteria of official statistics in Finland are also compatible with the Code of Practice of European statistics. The principles are also compatible with the European Foundation for Quality Management. The quality assurance of statistics performed by Statistics Finland includes statistics produced by the Natural Resources Institute Finland. The response material of the statistics is reviewed and edited on a yearly basis. Additionally, the non-response is investigated based on variable background information.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Not applicable.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
Users of the statistics includes the government, research, agricultural and food industries, and unions of agricultural producers. International users of the data include the Statistical Office of the European Union and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. We contact the users of the statistics regularly. According to feedback received, the data mostly meets the needs of the users.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Feedback is collected from the users of the statistics, especially when revising the statistics. Feedback is also received directly.
12.3. Completeness
Not applicable.
12.3.1. Data completeness - rate
Not applicable.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
The number of operators and the area under organic production are collected annually from different sources, partly from the administration and partly from statistics. The statistics from different sources are therefore not fully comparable in terms of classification and efforts will be made to harmonize this by SAIO.
The difficulty is also that the data is collected at different points in time. The number of operators and areas are collected at the planning stage, and the plans may not come true - therefore the numbers can vary according to the time.
We have also found differences in the definition of plant codes so that different/different amount of plant codes are included in the data we pick up from our registers, compared to the data we receive from other sources.
Some differences are also due to the fact that data have been taken from different databases, which are updated at different times. In the future, efforts should be made to achieve consistency in this respect.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable.
13.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Not applicable.
13.3.1. Coverage error
Not applicable.
13.3.1.1. Over-coverage - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.1.2. Common units - proportion
Not applicable.
13.3.2. Measurement error
Not applicable.
13.3.3. Non response error
Not applicable.
13.3.3.1. Unit non-response - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.3.2. Item non-response - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.4. Processing error
Not applicable.
13.3.5. Model assumption error
Not applicable.
14.1. Timeliness
See concepts below.
14.1.1. Time lag - first result
Not Applicable. No preliminary results are published.
14.1.2. Time lag - final result
Time lag is around 200 days.
14.2. Punctuality
See concepts below.
14.2.1. Punctuality - delivery and publication
The statistics have been published according to the publishing date declared in advance.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
The data is geographically comparable between regions in Finland.
15.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient
Not applicable.
15.2. Comparability - over time
Data is comparable to the current statistics is available starting from year 2005. The data is comparable starting from year 2005, after which the data has been collected.
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
Data is comparable since 2005.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
IFS : Differences in definitions. So far, we have not cross-checked the organic data from the farm structure survey with the organic data from the present organic statistics, but we will try to put more effort into such cross-checks in the future.
Annual crop statistics : The whole statistical production for ACS and organic crop production is harmonized and produced by Luke. Despite this, the Main area data for organic area differs to ACS – this might cause some incoherence for area figures.
15.3.1. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics
Not applicable.
15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts
Not applicable.
15.4. Coherence - internal
Not applicable.
Not applicable.
17.1. Data revision - policy
Not applicable.
17.2. Data revision - practice
Not applicable.
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
Not applicable.
18.1. Source data
Data is collected from
Certified registered organic operators - from National Supervisory Authority for Wellfare and Health (Valvira) and Finnish Food Authority and Regional Government of Åland
Certified registered organic processors -from Valvira and Finnish Food Authority and Regional Government of Åland
Certified organic crop area - from Finnish Food Authority and Regional Government of Åland
Certified organic crop production - from The Natural Resources Institute Finland
Certified organic livestock - from Finnish Food Safety Authority
Production of certified organic products of animal origin: from Statistic of the Natural Resources Institute Finland
Production of certified organic milk products - from dairy statistic of the Natural Resources Institute Finland
Certified organic aquaculture sold by producers - from the Finnish Food Safety Authority
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Once a year
18.3. Data collection
Data is collected from
Certified registered organic operators - from National Supervisory Authority for Wellfare and Health (Valvira) and Finnish Food Authority and Regional Government of Åland
Certified registered organic processors -from Valvira and Finnish Food Authority and Regional Government of Åland
Certified organic crop area - from Finnish Food Authority and Regional Government of Åland
Certified organic crop production - from The Natural Resources Institute Finland
Certified organic livestock - from Finnish Food Safety Authority
Production of certified organic products of animal origin: from Statistic of the Natural Resources Institute Finland
Production of certified organic milk products - from dairy statistic of the Natural Resources Institute Finland
Certified organic aquaculture sold by producers - from the Finnish Food Safety Authority
18.4. Data validation
Natural Resources Institute.
18.5. Data compilation
Natural Resources Institute.
18.5.1. Imputation - rate
Not applicable.
18.6. Adjustment
Not applicable.
18.6.1. Seasonal adjustment
Not applicable.
The collected statistics for the country cover the following data:
Certified registered organic operators (referring to their main or secondary activity) (expressed in number of operators)
Certified registered organic processors who manufacture organic products (as their main or secondary activity) (expressed in number of processors)
Certified organic crop area (under conversion and fully converted) (expressed in hectares)
Certified organic crop production from fully converted area (expressed in 1 000 kg)
Certified organic livestock (expressed in heads of live animals)
Production of certified organic products of animalorigin (expressed in 1 000 kg of carcass weight and in thousand eggs)
Production of certified organic milk products (Produced on farms or Processed on farms or by dairy enterprises) and Honey and products of bee-keeping (expressed in 1 000 kg of products obtained)
Certified organic aquaculture sold by producers (expressed in 1 000 kg live weight)
The reference area of the statistics consists of the whole of Finland, including Åland. The statistics are compiled for the whole of Finland.
1st of January 2022 - 31 th of December 2022
The number of operators and the area under organic production are collected annually from different sources, partly from the administration and partly from statistics. The statistics from different sources are therefore not fully comparable in terms of classification and efforts will be made to harmonize this by SAIO.
The difficulty is also that the data is collected at different points in time. The number of operators and areas are collected at the planning stage, and the plans may not come true - therefore the numbers can vary according to the time.
We have also found differences in the definition of plant codes so that different/different amount of plant codes are included in the data we pick up from our registers, compared to the data we receive from other sources.
Some differences are also due to the fact that data have been taken from different databases, which are updated at different times. In the future, efforts should be made to achieve consistency in this respect.
Certified registered organic operators (referring to their main or secondary activity) (expressed in number of operators)
Certified registered organic processors who manufacture organic products (as their main or secondary activity) (expressed in number of processors)
Certified organic croparea (under conversion and fully converted) (expressed in hectares)
Certified organic cropproduction from fully converted area (expressed in 1 000 kg)
Certified organic livestock (expressed in heads of live animals)
Production of certified organic products of animal origin (expressed in 1 000 kg of carcass weight and in thousand eggs)
Production of certified organic milk products (Produced on farms or Processed on farms or by dairy enterprises) and Honey and products of bee-keeping (expressed in 1 000 kg of products obtained)
Certified organic aquaculture sold by producers (expressed in 1 000 kg live weight)
Natural Resources Institute.
Data is collected from
Certified registered organic operators - from National Supervisory Authority for Wellfare and Health (Valvira) and Finnish Food Authority and Regional Government of Åland
Certified registered organic processors -from Valvira and Finnish Food Authority and Regional Government of Åland
Certified organic crop area - from Finnish Food Authority and Regional Government of Åland
Certified organic crop production - from The Natural Resources Institute Finland
Certified organic livestock - from Finnish Food Safety Authority
Production of certified organic products of animal origin: from Statistic of the Natural Resources Institute Finland
Production of certified organic milk products - from dairy statistic of the Natural Resources Institute Finland
Certified organic aquaculture sold by producers - from the Finnish Food Safety Authority
The publication dates are confirmed in autumn together with the action plans. The release calendar of the following year is published for users in the end of the year. Statistical Releases Calendar 2023 | Natural Resources Institute Finland (luke.fi) The release calendar holds data on the dates of future publications. The publication dates are published in the calendar at first with an accuracy of one week, and two months prior to the publication date with an accuracy of a day. The calendar also contains direct links to already published statistical publication.
See concepts below.
The data is geographically comparable between regions in Finland.
Data is comparable to the current statistics is available starting from year 2005. The data is comparable starting from year 2005, after which the data has been collected.
