Documentation of statistics other entrepreneurship in agriculture and horticulture

Data description

The statistics describe the other entrepreneurship of agricultural and horticultural enterprises and are comparable with statistics on other entrepreneurship of agricultural and horticultural enterprises in other EEA countries.

Classification system

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

Sector coverage

Data on other entrepreneurship of agricultural and horticultural enterprises is collected in the Farm Structure Survey every 3–4 years. The Farm Structure Survey is a sample survey covering about one third of agricultural and horticultural enterprises in the reference year.

Statistical concepts and definitions

A farming syndicate is a type of ownership of an agricultural or horticultural enterprise, in which a group of natural persons owns, leases or otherwise runs a farm together or their own farms as if they were a single farm. Employees of farming syndicates include all farm shareholders participating in agricultural work, their family members of at least 15 years of age, and full-time and short-term employees outside the family hired for agricultural work, including farm relief workers, contractors and similar.

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 adopted when calculating results from 2013.

Before 2013, a farm needed to have at least one hectare of farmland in use or domestic animals at least by one domestic animal unit. Before 2000, an active farm needed to have at least one hectare of farmland or garden under control and be engaged in agricultural production or other entrepreneurship.

Diversified agricultural and horticultural enterprises are farms that in addition to agriculture and horticulture have other entrepreneurship.

Other entrepreneurship include all financially significant regular activities for secondary income. Other entrepreneurship is related to the function of the agricultural or horticultural enterprise, and financially affect the operation of the farm.

The production line is determined in accordance with the agricultural or horticultural enterprise’s most economically significant product. This data is calculated using the SO method. If more than two thirds of a farm’s total output come from a single product, the farm is included in the production line category corresponding with this product.  If no such product exists, the farm’s production line is mixed production.  The SO method was first used in the 2013 results. Prior to this, the farmers indicated their farm’s production line in conjunction with subsidy applications.

Unit of measure

The quantity of diversified agricultural and horticultural enterprises is given in numbers and as a proportion relative to all farms.

The number of persons taking part in other entrepreneurship is given in numbers.

The amount of work in other entrepreneurship is given in annual working units.

Reference period

The statistics describe the state of other entrepreneurship of agricultural and horticultural enterprises at the time of data collection.

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 adopted when calculating results from 2013.

Time coverage

Data on other entrepreneurship of agricultural and horticultural enterprises has been collected in 2023, 2020, 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007, 2005, 2003, 2000, 1997, and 1995.

Frequency of disseminations

The Farm Structure Survey is conducted every 3 to 4 years. Data on other entrepreneurship of agricultural and horticultural enterprises is collected each time.

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.

Some of the data on agricultural and horticultural labour force is based on farmers’ estimates. Generally, the farmers are able to answer questions on an accurate enough level.

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.

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 the statistics of agricultural and horticultural labour force in all EEA countries, for which data has been collected using farm structure surveys.

Comparability - over time

The number of industry branch classifications was significantly reduced in the 2020 survey. Thus, data available is less accurate than that of previous years. The results of the 2013, 2010, and 2007 statistics on other entrepreneurship are mostly comparable with each other. The statistics of these years included both agricultural farms and horticultural enterprises.  Prior to this, horticultural enterprises were not a part of the statistics.

In 2003, the industry branches of reindeer husbandry, fishing, construction, and programme services were added to the survey form.

Coherence - cross domain

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

Source data

Data is collected from farms included in the sample of the Farm Structure Survey.

Frequency of data collection

Data is collected every 3 to 4 years in the Farm Structure Survey.

Data collection

Data on other entrepreneurial activities of agricultural and horticultural enterprises are collected as part of the Farm Structure Survey. The data collection covers farms listed in the register of agricultural and horticultural enterprises. Data are gathered either online or through telephone interviews. The telephone interviews are conducted by a third-party company selected by the Natural Resources Institute Finland. In 2023, there were approximately 42,300 agricultural and horticultural enterprises in Finland. Labour force data were collected from around 12,200 farms.

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 are either revised or removed from the material. The data for missing responses is restratified.