Executive summary

The Agriculture Division conducts an extensive statistical program with several highly integrated components comprised of the Census of Agriculture (CEAG), crop and livestock surveys, farm¹ economic statistics, agri-environmental statistics, tax and other administrative data, research and analysis, and remote sensing.

The Agriculture Division reviews its program on a regular basis to maintain relevance. However, at this time, there are a number of additional factors that warrant a more extensive review of the entire agriculture statistics program.

Purpose of the review

The present report responds to the following key questions:

1. Is a CEAG still the best way to meet the data requirements for policy and program purposes? If so, what should its frequency be? More specifically, is a CEAG required in 2016?
2. Given the data requirements for policy purposes, is the CEAG in its current form the most efficient way to gather the information, and are there efficiencies to be gained in the CEAG?
3. How can the agriculture statistics program as a whole be streamlined to reduce response burden² and costs, while continuing to meet priority data requirements?

Process undertaken to conduct the review

To respond to these questions, the Agriculture Division undertook the following activities:

• consultations were conducted with key federal, provincial, municipal, producer organization and industry stakeholders³
• a comprehensive survey was conducted with users of the Division's statistics
• a legislative review was conducted
• consultations were held with Statistics Canada divisions, including the System of National Accounts (SNA), which provided a report on its requirements
• response burden was analyzed
• agriculture statistics programs in other countries were reviewed
• the most appealing features of these programs were evaluated within the Canadian context for the delivery of the Canadian agriculture statistics program.

Results of the review

The review confirmed that Statistics Canada's agriculture statistics program, of which the CEAG is an integral component, continues to fulfill legislative requirements and to serve the needs of several long-standing and diverse clients. At the federal level, these clients include Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), Health Canada, Environment Canada, as well as the SNA and Prices Division of Statistics Canada.

At the provincial level, the statistical and policy areas of provincial agricultural departments are the key stakeholders in the agriculture statistics program. Local-level stakeholders largely include municipal and regional land-use planners. Industry stakeholders represent national producer organizations, agribusiness, academia, international agricultural institutions, agriculture producers and dietitians. The program also serves the general public.

The consultations and review regarding the agriculture statistics requirements for program administration and policy making indicate that

1. a traditional quinquennial CEAG is necessary in the short to medium term to obtain the required information⁴
2. some efficiency could be gained and response burden could be reduced with the adoption of a different CEAG model
3. alternative data collection strategies could streamline the current program to reduce burden and yield cost efficiencies.

Further work

Alternative data sources have been identified that hold promise for incorporation into the agriculture statistics program. Further investigation and analysis of these sources is required. High levels of interdepartmental cooperation and support will be necessary to fully exploit these data sources. In addition, further work will be required to increase the incorporation of taxation data, so that detailed revenue and expenses questions could be removed from the CEAG and the Farm Financial Survey (FFS). This work is summarized in Section 6.0 Road Map towards a New Agriculture Statistics Program.

Further analysis of remote sensing technologies, administrative data sources (including further incorporation of taxation data) and survey sample populations is required.

Statistics Canada thanks participants for their participation in this consultation. Their insights guide the Agency’s web development and ensure that the final products meet users’ expectations.

The objectives set out at the beginning of this review were to determine whether a quinquennial CEAG is necessary, and if so, how it could be made more efficient. The review also sought to determine what efficiencies could be gained in the delivery of the agriculture statistics program as a whole. The driving concerns behind these objectives are the need to reduce costs and response burden overall.

The research and consultations conducted by the Agriculture Division led to a clear enumeration and recognition of the requirements for agriculture statistics and for a quinquennial CEAG. The evaluation of various options, along with the current program, is presented in this report.

The Agriculture Division recognizes the importance of continuing to cultivate partnerships with potential administrative data providers. The Division also recognizes that continued communication, consultation and collaboration with major data users, key stakeholders and Agriculture Division staff are key elements to the successful implementation of any changes to the current program.

Regardless of the option chosen, four activities have been identified that will render the Canadian agriculture statistics program more efficient:

1. increasing the incorporation of administrative data to replace survey questions where possible
2. replacing detailed revenue and expenses questions on the CEAG and the FFS with taxation data
3. determining the impact of revising the survey sample populations
4. increasing the utilization of remote sensing applications with a view to replacing survey questions or entire surveys over the longer term.

Timeline

A framework would need to be developed for the continual assessment, testing and incorporation of administrative data into the statistical program to realize ongoing reductions to burden and costs. The detailed expenses questions could be replaced with tax data beginning with the 2016 CEAG.

In the road map, there are four main phases for the integration of administrative data into the agriculture statistics program:

1. assess, conceptualize, develop, establish and access
2. test
3. implement and use
4. on-going operationalization.

The length of each phase will vary with the specific administrative data source in question, and sometimes a phase may have to be repeated. It is worth noting that the steps may have to be conducted separately for several jurisdictions (provinces), as often the holders of the agriculture administrative data are decentralized. This also means that the phases, including implementation and ongoing operationalization, may differ in time and duration for the same data variables by jurisdiction (e.g., administrative data for livestock variables could be implemented for one province before others).

Table 4 illustrates a possible timeline for the incorporation of tax data and other administrative data sources into the CEAG, while Table 5 presents possible timelines within the agriculture survey program. It is important to note that the elements of access, coverage, matching, timeliness and data concepts all need to be evaluated and tested as part of the process.

Census years are 2011, 2016, 2021, 2026 and 2031.

Table 4: Possible timeline for administrative data replacement in the Census of Agriculture

For incorporation of administrative data into the survey program, the same four phases apply. A minimum of five years would be expected before implementation could be completed. The timing of each phase is highly dependent on the success and duration of preceding phases.

Table 5: Possible timeline for administrative data replacement in the Agriculture Survey Program

Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4	Year 5	Year 6	Year 7
Assess, conceptualize, develop, establish access		Test for the program		Implement and use in the program		Ongoing