Documentation of Horticultural Statistics

Data description

The statistics describe the structure of commercial horticultural enterprises, their outdoor and greenhouse production, and their mushroom cultivation. The statistics contain data on the number of horticultural enterprises, cultivation areas, the use of greenhouses, and yield by plant species. Data on the energy use of greenhouse enterprises is collected approximately every three years. Data is based on a statistical survey performed yearly.

Statistical survey form: Horticultural Enterprise Register Questionnaire | Natural Resources Institute Finland

Classification system

Data is presented for the whole of Finland and by ELY-Centre. Data is also given by municipality and county. The classification of farms into regions is based on the municipality in which a farm’s administrative centre is located. The regional division corresponds to the state on 1st of January of the statistical year. Changes to regional divisions are not revised to prior statistics. 

Regional classifications and changes to them: Classifications | Statistics Finland

Sector coverage

The coverage and accuracy of area-data in the register of agricultural and horticultural enterprises is good. 

Statistical concepts and definitions

Horticultural enterprises are agricultural or horticultural enterprises (or other units) farming horticultural plants for sales, with a financial size of over EUR 2000, using the Standard Output Method. Sales production includes production for further processing on the farm.

Horticultural production includes over-air and greenhouse production of vegetables, fruits, berries, ornamental plants, nurseries, and the cultivation of mushrooms.

Open-air cultivation includes cultivation on frames, under covers on the ground, and in tunnels. Tunnel cultivation includes cultivation in low and high tunnels.

Greenhouses can be unheated or heated.

Yield includes yield eligible for trade. Yield sold as self-harvest is included in the crop yield. Storage waste has not been subtracted from the stored yield.

Vegetables include the following vegetables for human consumption:

- leafy vegetables and sprouts (i.e., salads, spinach, herbs)

- root vegetables and tuberous plants, excluding potato (i.e., carrot, swede, celeriac)

- bulbous plants (i.e., food onion, leek)

- legumes (i.e., garden peas, common bean)

- accessory fruits, excluding seed spices (i.e., tomato, outdoor cucumber, greenhouse cucumber)

In 1990–2018 the total production was the sum of fresh sales production and the made-to-order production of the industry.

In 1984–1992 the unknowns are usually combined to the “total others” data. Since 1993 the unknowns are only included in the total data.

Cultivated area and greenhouse area

The cultivated area of butter-head lettuce, crisphead lettuce, Chinese cabbage, dill, parsley, and “others total” is the combined area of the various cultivations of the species. The cultivated area of other plants is the same as the greenhouse area used for cultivation, even if the plant population is replaced during the growth period.

Plants used in hanging flowerpots include all hanging variants of the same plant, and combinations of multiple species sold in pots with a diameter of at least 15cm.

Statistical unit

The statistics describe the horticultural production of farms included in the register of agricultural and horticultural enterprises. 

Statistical population

The statistics cover all horticultural enterprises in the register of agricultural and horticultural enterprises with a horticultural financial size of at least EUR 2,000. Data is collected as a census from farms with a horticultural financial size of at least EUR 10,000. The yields of smaller farms (SO EUR 2,000–9,999) is estimated using average yields.

Unit of measure 

Areas in the statistics are given in hectares.

The distribution of open-air production is given in hectares.

The distribution of greenhouse production is given in thousands of square metres.

Information on harvest volumes is given in thousands of kilogrammes or thousands of pieces.

Reference period

Calendar year

Frequency of disseminations

The statistics are compiled yearly, statistics on energy consumption are compiled approximately every three years.

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). 

Additionally, the Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union concerning crop statistics (543/2009) mandates compiling these statistics.

Data is provided to the Statistical Office of the European Union three times a year: Preliminary data in May and October, final data in March. Eurostat publishes data from all its member countries online.

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.

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 with great focus on the data quality of large enterprises.

User needs

Users of the statistics include 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.

Overall accuracy and reliability

The coverage and accuracy of area-data in the register of agricultural and horticultural enterprises is good, and the response rate is approximately 94%. Data is reviewed in all processing stages to ensure its quality. Since 1999, missing data on crop yield is replaced using data from a similar farm in the same region.

In 1984–1998 missing data on crop yield was replaced with the average yield of rural centres. Data is very reliable after all the revisions and supplementations.

Timeliness

Statistics are published according to the release calendar, approximately 2–3 months after data collection has finished.

Comparability - over time

The information content of the statistics has remained mostly unchanged since the start of recording the statistics in 1984. Any changes to the comparability of time series caused by changed content has been mentioned in the corresponding statistic tables. The area classifications in the statistics have changed over the years, making comparison by area more difficult. 

Classifications | Statistics Finland (stat.fi)

Coherence - cross domain

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

Source data

The register of agricultural and horticultural enterprises is used as source data for the statistics. This register collects data on all Finnish farms practicing agriculture or horticulture with a financial size of over EUR 2,000. Most of the data content of the register is based on data collected from farmers in conjunction with authoritative functions of rural development administrations. Data is supplemented with other registers of the Finnish Food Authority, if necessary.

Frequency of data collection

Yearly

Data collection

The horticultural survey is a census study. Data is collected from farms with a network service and with phone interviews. Farms with horticultural production of at least EUR 10,000 are included in the data collection. Farms are not sent paper forms. The online form is pre-filled with areas retrieved from the IACS-system. Reminders are sent via email and as text messages.

The identification (personal identification) of the primary farmer is used to log into the web service. The primary farmer can authorise another person to respond for them. Suomi.fi e-authorisation is used.

Data validation

If for example an abnormally large observation is spotted during the data compilation process, the authenticity of data is reviewed. Missing data from the largest enterprises can be collected via phone after the primary data collection has ended.

Data compilation

Faulty data is fixed mainly by hand using the recording software. The process of fixing a larger quantity of data can be automated. The need to fix faulty data is small, as the data collection application prevents sending faulty data.

If data is not received from a farmer in time, the missing data is imputed.