Statistics Explained

Archive:Agricultural census introduction

An agricultural census is a survey collecting information about all agricultural holdings in a given country. Its objective is to present an updated picture of the structure of agricultural activities, from an economical, social and environmental point of view. Topics normally covered in an agricultural census are:

Table 1: Number of agricultural holdings in Agricultural censuses 1970-2000 (in 1000)
  • the size of the farms;
  • the type of crops;
  • the number and type of livestock;
  • the labour force involved in the farm work.

Agricultural census 2010

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations is currently organising the ninth round of the World Agricultural Census (2010). These have been taking place every 10 years since 1930. Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union (EU), has followed FAO's recommendation on the world-wide decennial agricultural census since the 1970 round. Additionnally, Eurostat has also carried out intermediate surveys every 2/3 years. These surveys, known as "Farm structure survey (FSS)", have made it possible to assess and monitor European agriculture.

The 2010 Agricultural census is currently launched in the EU countries and in the EFTA countries, using common rules and procedures. Three countries have started to conduct the census in 2009: Greece, Spain and Portugal. The forecasts for data dissemination of first results are mid-2011, for Greece, Spain and Portugal, or mid-2012 for the rest of the countries.

Harmonised EU results should be available by the end of 2012, beginning of 2013.

First EU results are available here: Agricultural census 2010 - provisional results

Provisional national results

Details on national censuses and some provisional results are available through the following links:

  • Norway:
  • Slovenia:

See also

Further Eurostat information

Publications

Main tables

Farm structure: historical data (1990-2007) (t_ef)

Database

Structure of agricultural holdings (ef)
Overview of agricultural holdings (ef_ov)
Land Use (ef_lu)
Livestock (ef_ls)
Special interest topics (ef_so)
Standard gross margin (SGM) coefficients used for typology (ef_tsgm)
Standard output (SO) coefficients used for typology (ef_tso)
Structure of agricultural holdings by region, main indicators (ef_r_main)

Dedicated section

Methodology / Metadata

Source data for tables, figures and maps on this page (MS Excel)

Other information

  • Regulation 1166/2008 of 19 November 2008 on farm structure surveys and the survey on agricultural production methods and repealing Council Regulation 571/88
  • Regulation 1200/2009 of 30 November 2009 implementing Regulation 1166/2008 on farm structure surveys and the survey on agricultural production methods, as regards livestock unit coefficients and definitions of the characteristics

External links