Documentation of Crop Production Statistics

Data description

The statistics on crop production contain information on the production of the most significant crops in Finland. The statistics describe the production quantities of crops in total and by area. In addition to total production, the statistics are divided into organic and conventional production.

Classification system

The classification of crops mostly follows international crop classifications.

Crop names follow the names included in the registers of rural administrations (crop codes). Data is available for the whole of Finland and by regions.

Sector coverage

The statistics cover the production of all significant crops farmed in Finland.

Statistical concepts and definitions

Mixed crops: mixed cereals (cereals and cereals + oleaginous plants), mixed crops (protein crop + ≥50 per cent cereals) and mixture: pea/broad bean/sweet lupin + ≥50 per cent cereals)

Cereals harvested green include cereals (barley, oat, wheat, and mixed cereals) harvested after flowering.

Cereals harvested green include cereals (barley, oat, wheat, and mixed cereals) collected by threshing and preserved fresh.

Cereals harvested green total includes total silage and cereals harvested green.

Yield potential means the harvest of a crop per hectare which at most 10% of farms in the region can achieve during the growing season. The yield potential is calculated separately for organic and conventional crop production. 

Statistical unit

The statistical unit is an agricultural or horticultural enterprise.

Statistical population

The statistical population includes all agricultural and horticultural enterprises in Finland.

Unit of measure 

Area is given in thousands of hectares (1 ha = 10,000 m2). Area only includes the harvested area; thus, area of damaged crops or other unharvested areas are not included in the production area.

Crop production is given both in kilogrammes per hectare and in total, in millions of kilogrammes. Crop production of cereals, oleaginous plants, and protein crops is the dried crop yield.

Reference period

Calendar year

Frequency of disseminations

Four times a year

The statistics are compiled based on the Act on the Natural Resources Institute Finland (561/2014), the Act on Food and Natural Resource Statistics (562/2014), and the Statistics Act (280/2004). The regulation No 1165/2008 of the Council of Europe also includes obligations regarding the production of statistics on the number of livestock.

More information: Statistics legislation

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.

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.

More information: Privacy policy – Statistics

The disseminations of the Natural Resources Institute Finland are published online on weekdays at 9:00.  Data is public after it has been published on the website.

Release calendar

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 calendar also contains direct links to already published statistical publication.

Release calendar access

Statistical releases calendar | Natural Resources Institute Finland

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 annual quality assurance of statistics performed by Statistics Finland includes statistics produced by the Natural Resources Institute Finland.

Checks for faulty data in the data collection application mostly prevent accidental mistakes. The data collected is reviewed and edited after data collection.

Quality assessment

The response material of the statistics is reviewed and edited. Additionally, the non-response is investigated based on variable background information.

User needs

The statistics are used both nationally and internationally. The statistics are a part of the European Statistical System (ESS). The statistical office of the European Union, Eurostat, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO, publish data from the statistics on their websites. The statistics are utilised in compiling other statistics, such as Utilised Agricultural Area, Crop Use on Farms, Cereals Balance Sheet, and the Balance Sheet for Food Commodities. Other users include research, administration, agricultural and food establishments, farmers, interest groups, counselling, and media.

Overall accuracy and reliability

The crop estimates describe the state of crops at the time quite well when comparing data to the final crop production statistics published at the beginning of the following year. Exceptionally good or bad weather at the end of the growth season may change the outcome of the crop yield. Most of the crops have not been harvest at the time of compiling crop estimates.

The statistical population is revised yearly, and as a result, the statistics cover nearly 100% of its statistical population. In 2021 the sample size was approximately 6,100 farms, 89% of which responded to the survey.

Harvested area by species is most reliable for crops for which data is collected from the Administration for Rural Affairs. Data on harvested area collected with the harvest survey is used for all crop categories. The harvest survey also collects data on harvested area per crop classification for grasses, cereals, peas, and broad beans. Data on the harvested area of these crops is not quite as accurate as data on other crops. 

The harvesting calculations of sugarbeets are different from other crops, as its final total yield is collected from Sucros Oy. The harvest volumes received from them is the cleaned total yield received by the sugarbeet factory.

Timeliness

The statistics on crop production have four disseminations during the statistical year. The first two crop estimates are published during the growth season. The dates of crop estimates are 15.8. and 20.9., or the nearest Monday. The dates of crop estimates until 2021 were 15.7. and 25.8., or the nearest Monday. Information is published on the Friday of the concurrent week. Crop estimates of August are delivered to the EU on 31.8. at latest. The third publication happens in November of the statistical year, and this data is supplied to EU on 30.11. at latest. The final statistics are finished during the first quarter following the statistical year. Data for the whole of Finland is delivered to the EU on 31.3. at latest, and data per region on 30.9. at latest.

Comparability - over time

Statistics on the production of crops have been recorded since 1920. Data on the crop yield by hectare is comparable throughout the statistical period. The statistics on total harvested yield became more accurate in 1995, since when the calculation of harvested yield is based on data on cultivated area collected from the Administration for Rural Affairs. Before 1995 the cultivated area data of all crops was based on a sample survey.

In 2000 the statistical population of the statistics expanded to include farms that did not apply for subsidies. In 2013 the definition of farms included in the statistical population changed to be based on the financial size of the farm. This change slightly reduced the number of farms included in the statistical population. Neither of these changes to the base register significantly affects the results of the statistics.

In 2016 the preliminary crop production statistics, which was separate statistics, was included in the statistics on crop production. Information is now published under crop production statistics with the same information content as before in July and August or September. 

In 2020 the statistics on organic crop production were included in the statistics on crop production. Since 2020, the statistics include data on conventional production, in addition to organic and total production.

As a result of the cultivated areas of crops changing, the crop species recorded in the statistics have changed slightly over the years.

Information is published according to the national regional divisions in place during the statistical year. Changes to regional divisions (i.e., consolidation of municipalities or transfer of municipality to another ELY Centre or region) thus affect the comparability of total yield and harvested areas over time.

Coherence - cross domain

The data is coherent with other statistics based on the register of agricultural and horticultural enterprises.

Source data

In harvest estimates cultivated areas of crops are based on data recorded in the register of the Finnish Food Authority’s Administration for Rural Affairs. Hectare yield data per species used for compiling the statistics are collected as expert estimates from ProAgria.

The final crop statistics are based on a sample survey for farms. Cultivated area per crop species recorded in the register of the Finnish Food Authority’s Administration for Rural Affairs are prefilled in the online survey for farms. The area given in the final statistics is the harvested area, meaning that the harvest survey is used to estimate the harvested area per crop species for the statistics. Yield per crop species is also collected from farms.

Frequency of data collection

There are three data collections yearly.

Data collection

The expert estimates for each municipality are collected online twice during the growth season. There is an agreement on data collection with ProAgria Association and Svenska Lantbrukssällskapens Forbund (SLF). 

Data for the final statistics is collected from farms online and with phone interviews. Data on a farm’s cultivated area per crop species, collected from the database of the Finnish Food Authority’s Administration for Rural Affairs, is prefilled in the data collection application. 

Data validation

If for example an abnormally large observation is spotted during the data compilation process, the authenticity of data is reviewed.

Data compilation

In data compilation of the yield estimates, yield per crop species is calculated from the expert estimates by municipality using the area per crop species collected from the database of the Administration for Rural Affairs. Missing crop estimates are imputed using averages from ProAgria Centre, or in case these are missing, the averages for the whole country. An estimate on the total crop estimate (millions of kilogrammes) is calculated by summing the crop estimates by municipality.

Faulty or abnormal data from the sample survey is either revised or removed from the material. If data distortion the total results is collected from a farm, the farm is deleted from the stratum it represents and a separate stratum is formed from the farm. The statistics give the harvested yield in hectares. This is calculated by dividing the estimated total yield by harvested area.

Until 2015, harvested area for most crops was calculated by subtracting the completely destroyed area, collected from crop damage declarations, from cultivated area. Data on both areas by species were collected from the database of the Administration for Rural Affairs. Since 2016, data on harvested area collected from the sample is used for all crops, as data on damaged crops is no longer available. 

Grass fodder area is divided into hay, silage, and mowed fodder area based on the first yield’s form of use. Since 2007, the area of oats, barley, spring wheat, and mixed crops has been divided into dry crops and cereals harvested green, based on sample data. Winter wheat and rye have been divided similarly since 2021. This division has been used for feed peas and broad beans since 2017.

The total yield presented in the statistics is calculated by multiplying the estimated production by harvested area.