General notes General notes

Conversion factors

The following factors are used to convert between different units of measurement:

• 1 acre = 0.404 685 59 hectare
• 1 hectare = 2.471 054 13 acres
• 1 arpent = 0.845 acre (for respondents in Quebec who reported land areas in arpents)
• 1 square foot = 0.092 903 04 square metre
• 1 square metre = 10.763 91 square feet
• 1 kilogram = 2.204 622 48 pounds
• 1 pound = 0.453 592 39 kilogram

Rounding

Totals may not equal the sum of their parts due to the use of conversion factors or rounding of fractions to whole numbers.

Confidentiality procedures

All tabulated data have been subjected to either a "data suppression" or "random rounding" confidentiality procedure to prevent the possibility of associating statistical data with any identifiable agricultural operation or individual.

The "data suppression" procedure identified and deleted all cell values in the farm data tables that could result in the disclosure of information relating to a specific agricultural operation. In all cases, however, suppressed data were included in aggregate subtotals and totals in each of these tables.

The "random rounding" procedure was applied to all data appearing in the farm operator tables. Employing this technique, all figures in each of these tables, including totals, were randomly rounded either up or down to a multiple of 5. While providing protection against disclosure, this procedure does not add significant error to the data. It does, however, result in certain data inconsistencies which are outlined in the data inconsistencies paragraphs presented below.

Finally, data for those geographic areas with very few agricultural operations were not released separately, but were merged with data from one or more geographic areas.

Data inconsistencies

The application of the "random rounding" confidentiality procedure to data appearing in the farm operator tables, has resulted in the following data inconsistencies:

• Since the totals in a table are randomly rounded independently of their component cell values, some differences may exist between the rounded totals and the sum of their rounded components. Similarly, percentage distributions, which are calculated based on rounded cell values, do not necessarily add up to 100%. Averages, however, are calculated based on unrounded data.
• Random rounding can significantly distort results for variables with small cell counts. Individual data cells containing small numbers may lose their precision as a result.
• Finally, minor differences can be expected in corresponding totals and cell values appearing in different tables. For example, the total number of farm operators under 35 years of age in Canada in 2016 has been randomly rounded, which may result in slightly different totals occurring in the tables in which the variable appears.

Headquarters rule

Many agricultural operations in Canada are composed of numerous parcels of land in a number of locations. These different locations are often situated in several geographic areas (such as townships or counties). In these situations, the "headquarters rule" assigns all data collected for the agricultural operation to the geographic area where the farm headquarters is located.

Incomplete enumeration of Indian reserves and Indian settlements

On some Indian reserves and Indian settlements in the 2016 Census, enumeration was not permitted or was interrupted before it could be completed. Moreover, for some Indian reserves and Indian settlements, the quality of the enumeration was considered inadequate. These geographic areas (a total of 14) are called incompletely enumerated Indian reserves and Indian settlements.

Data for census farms located on these incompletely enumerated reserves and settlements are therefore not available. The impact of the missing data is very small for higher-level geographic areas (Canada, provinces, and census agricultural regions). However, the impact is more significant for those smaller areas (census divisions and census consolidated subdivisions) in which the affected reserves and settlements are located.

For a listing of the names and locations of the 14 incompletely enumerated Indian reserves and Indian settlements, please refer to Appendix 1.2 – Incompletely enumerated Indian reserves and Indian settlements.