Census vital to agricultural planning
But at the end of next month all farmers will receive a questionnaire and an information booklet that will require their full attention because the cumulative replies given will have an important bearing on the planning for their industry in the years ahead.
The documentation will relate to the 2010 Census of Agriculture, which will be conducted by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on June 1 and co-ordinated from its Cork office.
It is important that the questionnaire is completed and returned to the CSO by June 8 in a freepost pre-addressed envelope which will be provided for this purpose.
Summer is always a busy period for farmers, but they should set aside time to read the booklet and carefully complete the questionnaires which will be issued to them in the week preceding the June 1 reference date. The answers they provide will give a detailed snapshot of agricultural activity in Ireland from over 140,000 farm holdings.
That data will be crucial to the Government and the European Commission as they formulate and monitor agricultural policy. Census statistics are also used by farming associations, economic researchers and even individual agricultural producers.
The first Census of Agriculture was conducted in 1847 and annually until 1953. They were then conducted every five years between 1960 and 1980, and every 10 years or so after that. The last Census was undertaken in the year 2000.
A look at some of the main findings from that last snapshot highlight many of the changes that took place in Irish farming over the previous decade.
It also underscores the importance of updating those statistics now in order to take account of the further structural shifts that have occurred in farming in the last 10 years.
A sense of the information that will be sought on June 1 can be got from the results of the last survey. It recorded the numbers of livestock and poultry in the State and the size of the farm workforce.
Data on the ownership and use of farm machinery, and the extent of involvement in non-agricultural activities such as tourism, forestry and so on, was also recorded.
The report contained over 40 tables, with many of the results broken down by the area farmed, the economic size of farms and the main type of agricultural activity.
Regional and county breakdowns were also provided and statistics given on the age distribution of farmers and on the volume of farm labour input.
There were, for instance, 141,527 active farms in June 2000, compared to 170,578 when the previous Census was taken in 1991.
This was a fall of some 17% in the number of farms. The average size of farm increased from 26.0 hectares in 1991 to 31.4 hectares in 2000.
The total number of cattle in June 2000 was 7.037 million. Specialist beef production was the most common type of farming, accounting for just over half of all farms.
There were 26,292 specialist dairy farms in June 2000. The next most important type of farming was mixed grazing livestock, accounting for 20,279 farms.
A decade ago, there were 1.17 million dairy cows and 1.18 million other cows. Corresponding figures in 1991 were 1.33 million dairy cows and 817,302 other cows.
The average size of dairy herd increased from 27.1 cows in 1991 to 37.0 in 2000. The number of sheep was 7.55 million in June 2000, some 15% below the 1991 figure of 8.8 million.
There were 257,948 family and regular non-family workers engaged in farming in 2000, a drop of 17.5% on the 1991 figure of 312,729. In 1991, 45.1% of farmers were aged 55 or over. This age category represented 39.5% of farmers in 2000.
Back in 1991, almost three-quarters (73.4%) of farmers described farm work as their sole occupation. This had fallen to 55.7% in 2000.
Further structural and other changes will obviously be recorded in the 2010 Census, which has the support of the major farming associations.
The CSO accepts that its surveys can impose a burden on respondents and accordingly it is committed to reducing this as much as possible.
But there is a statutory obligation upon all agricultural producers to complete their Census questionnaire.
It will be sent to every agricultural holding in the State where the area used for farming is at least one hectare.
In addition, farms with less than one hectare will also be included in the Census if they are engaged in intensive production of, for example, pigs or poultry.
The 2010 Census of Agriculture will be the first census to use a combination of administrative records and completed paper questionnaires.
All information returned on questionnaires will be treated as strictly confidential and will be used for statistical purposes only. This is guaranteed by both Irish and European Union law.
The Census is the largest agriculture project undertaken by the CSO. It is aptly sub-titled “Time to take Stock” and relies on the goodwill of farmers for its completion and success.
