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QUALITY DECLARATION - SUMMARY

INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT

For information on the institutional environment of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), including the legislative obligations of the ABS, financing and governance arrangements, and mechanisms for scrutiny of ABS operations, please see ABS Institutional Environment.

RELEVANCE

This publication contains preliminary estimates from the 2015-16 Value of Agricultural Commodities Produced (VACP) Collection. The value estimates in this publication are derived by the multiplication of price and quantity of agricultural commodities. Price data refer to the average unit value of a given commodity realised in the marketplace. Price information is obtained from ABS collections, as well as from non-ABS sources, including marketing authorities and industry sources.

Quantity data for crops has been collected via the 2015-16 Agricultural Census. Remaining commodity data are obtained from other ABS collections, with some information gathered from external sources. The data are collected on a state/territory basis and then aggregated to derive Australian totals.

Preliminary estimates from the 2015-16 Agricultural Census will be presented in:

Principal Agricultural Commodities, Australia, Preliminary, 2015-16 (cat. no. 7111.0) which contains detailed statistics on principal crop area and production and livestock numbers. The publication presents data on a national, state and territory basis. Final estimates that also include sub-state level data will be released in Agricultural Commodities, Australia, 2015-16 (cat .no. 7121.0) in mid 2017.

TIMELINESS

Preliminary estimates from the VACP Collection will be published within twelve months of the reference period, and at the same time as the preliminary agricultural production estimates from the Agricultural Census which can be found in Principal Agricultural Commodities, Australia, Preliminary, 2015-16 (cat. no. 7111.0). Final estimates from the 2014-15 VACP Collection will be released in Value of Agricultural Commodities Produced, Australia, 2014-15 (cat no. 7503.0) in mid 2017.

Gross Value of Irrigated Agricultural Production (cat. no. 4610.0.55.008) will be published in late 2017.

ACCURACY

The accuracy of price data is ensured by the collection of price data from the best known sources. Where a statutory authority handles marketing of the whole or a portion of a product, data are usually obtained from this source. Information is also obtained from marketing reports, wholesalers, brokers, dealers and auctioneers. Production data are obtained from a range of high-quality sources, including ABS agricultural commodity collections and industry bodies. Extensive editing of production and prices data and checking of resultant value estimates against earlier years and other relevant sources are used to ensure the accuracy of the estimates produced.

All estimates in this publication are subject to sampling error. For more information about sampling error refer to the Explanatory Notes within this release.

COHERENCE

Most estimates in this publication are directly comparable to previous reference periods. However, estimates of 'Total crops', 'Total livestock slaughtering and other disposals' and 'Total agriculture' are not directly comparable to all previous issues due to changes data items that are included in these ‘total’ items.

As noted in the publication Agricultural Census: Nature and Content, 2015-16 (cat. no 7100.1), the scope for the 2015-16 Agricultural Census was all agricultural businesses with an EVAO of $40,000 or greater. This is a change from previous ABS rural environment and agricultural collections, where a scope of EVAO of $5,000 or greater was used. The change in scope better aligns collection with the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARES) collections. It is proposed that only agricultural businesses with an EVAO of $40,000 or greater will be in scope for ABS rural environmental and agricultural commodity collections in 2016-17 and beyond. For more information about EVAO, refer to the Explanatory Notes within this release.

As a result of the change in scope for the 2015-16 Agricultural Census, some components of VACP will not be directly comparable to previously published VACP outputs. To address this, a set of estimates will be produced from a number of VACP collections from 2010-11 to 2014-15 using Agricultural Census and rural environment and agricultural commodity collection inputs with an EVAO of $40,000 or greater. These estimates are being released progressively, commencing with the 2014-15 outputs which are now available at the national and state/territory levels.

INTERPRETABILITY

The VACP Collection provides a broad range of data about the value of agricultural commodities produced in Australia through a suite of standard products or as data customised for individual requirements. Detailed Explanatory Notes are provided in Value of Principal Agricultural Commodities Produced, Australia, 2015-16 (cat. no. 7501.0) to assist users in determining and specifying their data requirements and to understand the concepts underlying the data.

ACCESSIBILITY

An extensive range of data are available from a variety of agriculture based collections on the ABS website.

If the information you require is not available as a standard product or service, the ABS Consultancy Services can assist with customised services to suit your requirements. Inquiries should be made to the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.