Documentation of statistics Farmland Management and Irrigation

Data description

The statistics contain information on soil cover in winter and primary tillage of fields of agricultural and horticultural enterprises, continuous cultivation of the same crop species, spreading of cattle manure, field and horticultural area available for irrigation and area irrigated, used irrigation methods, and the origin of water used for irrigation.

Classification system

The area classification of the preliminary statistics is the whole of Finland. Final information is published by region and production sectors of agricultural and horticultural enterprises. 

Sector coverage

Data on farmland management and irrigation is collected in the Farm Structure Survey every 3 to 4 years.The Farm Structure Survey isa sample survey covering about one third of agricultural and horticultural enterprises in the reference year.

Statistical concepts and definitions

Area available for irrigation includes the cultivated area, to which irrigation devices can be transported or can be used on (water for irrigation is available, and the use of irrigation devices is technically possible). Area may be available for irrigation even though it has never been irrigated. The normal level of water available for irrigation is the volume of water that is available for irrigation in most years.

The origin of water used for irrigation

1. Surface water from the farm: Water is taken from i.e., a pond, irrigation reservoir, or a dam reservoir. The origin of the water could be either rainwater or ground water. If ground water is collected into an irrigation or dam reservoir only during the sprinkler irrigation season, the origin of water is marked as ground water.

2. Surface water from a waterway that extends beyond the farm: Water is taken from a lake, river, etc. which lies partly or fully outside the farm.

3. Ground water from the farm: Water is taken from i.e., a well or spring on or near the farm, and the water is used for irrigation directly or transported into an irrigation reservoir.

Agricultural and horticultural enterprises are farms practising agricultural or horticultural production, with a financial size of over 2000 EUR, using the Standard Output Method. This definition was taken into use in statistics regarding data from 2013.

Before the year 2013 the definition of a farm was a farm with at least a hectare of usable farmland, or at least one livestock unit of livestock. Before the year 2020 the definition off an active farm was a farm with at least a hectare of fields of gardens and with agricultural production or other business activities.

Standard output SO is the average income as Euros per hectare received for agricultural products, or Euros per livestock by farm prices. Prices used in calculating Standard Output are five-year averages. SO does not take subsidies into account, because in agricultural politics of the EU subsidies are separate from production. Thus, subsidies per product cannot be calculated. Standard output can be used to calculate the financial size of an agricultural or horticultural enterprise. More information on Standard Output can be found on the Eurostat website: Glossary:Standard output (SO) - Statistics Explained (europa.eu)

Production sector is defined after the commercially most significant product of the agricultural or horticultural enterprise. Data is calculated by using the Standard Output method. If over 2/3 of the total production of the farm comprises of one product, the farm is classified as the corresponding production sector. If such product does not exist, the production sector is classified as mixed production. The standard output method was taken into use in results from 2013. Prior to this, the farmer declared their production sector in the application for subsidies.

Statistical unit

The statistical unit is an agricultural or horticultural enterprise.

Statistical population

The statistical population contains all active agricultural and horticultural enterprises with production. Active agricultural or horticultural enterprises are farms or enterprises with a financial size of over EUR 2000. The financial size is calculated by using the Standard Output method. This definition was taken into use in statistics regarding data from 2013.

Reference area

Information is published for the whole of Finland, by ELY-Centres and production sectors.

Time coverage

Farm Structure Surveys in Finland have been conducted in 1995, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2020 and 2023. 

Base period

2010

Unit of measure

The units of measure used in the statistics are: hectare (ha), and a portion of an area (%).

Reference period

Harvest year 2022–2023 or year 2023. 

Frequency of disseminations

The Farm Structure Survey is conducted every 3 to 4 years. Data on farmland management and irrigation is not always included in the Farm Structure Survey.

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), the Statistics Act (280/2004), and the Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union concerning crop statistics (1166/2008).

More information: Statistics legislation

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.

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. 

Quality assessment

The quality is assessed in the data processing stage.

User satisfaction

Feedback is collected from the users of the statistics, especially when revising the statistics. Feedback is also received directly. In addition, we investigated the wishes of users for developing the statistics in the autumn of 2021 and beginning of 2022, when updating the work programme for the Natural Resources Institute Finland. We follow the received feedback and take it into consideration in developing the statistics.

Overall accuracy and reliability

The response rate of Farm Structure Survey is between 82 and 88 per cent. The sample size covers about one third of the total number of farms in related year of survey. The data is very reliable due to a large sample size and a high response rate.

Coverage error

The register of agricultural and horticultural enterprises is revised yearly, and farms that have stopped production are removed from the register. Because of this there is no significant over-coverage in the statistics.

Data on water used for irrigation is based on farmers’ estimates.

Timeliness

The statistics will be published as soon as possible after the data collection. The results will be published as final results.

Punctuality

The statistics have been published according to the publishing date declared in advance.

Comparability - geographical

The statistics are comparable with data from all EEA countries, for which data has been collected using farm structure surveys.

Comparability - over time

The results are mostly comparable with each other, if questions on farmland management and irrigation have been included in the Farm Structure Survey.

Coherence - cross domain

The statistics are coherent with other statistics on agricultural and horticultural enterprises. 

Frequency of data collection

The Farm Structure Survey is conducted every 3 to 4 years. Data on farmland management and irrigation is not collected each time.

Data collection

Data on farmland management and irrigation of agricultural and horticultural enterprises is collected in the data collection of the Farm Structure Survey. Once every ten years the Farm Structure Survey is conducted as a census study (agricultural census). The more recent agricultural census in Finland was conducted in 2020.

Data collection includes farms included in the register of agricultural and horticultural enterprises. Data is collected online or with phone interviews. In 2023 the number of agricultural and horticultural enterprises in Finland was approximately 42,700. The sample of the Farm Structure Survey included approximately 14,900 of these farms.

Source data is also collected from the register of field plots.

Data validation

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

Data compilation

Data collected with the sample survey is estimated using the normal multiplying factor of stratified sampling. Faulty or abnormal data from the sample survey is either revised or removed from the material. The data for missing responses is restratified.