7. CAPACITY TO ADAPT TO NEW INFORMATION PRIORITIES AS THEY ARISE
Through the review process, a number of areas of priority information needs were identified. These were broad ranging from topical issues relating to statistics to support an understanding of carbon sequestration on agricultural land, to statistical information relating to the extent of community engagement in regional Australia. The review process also identified the need for data relating to the structure of agricultural business and to the characteristics of the business operators.
By reducing the number of agricultural commodity production data collected on an annual basis, the ABS will explore the opportunity to include a number of these priority issues. While information on a number of these topics have not been previously collected by the ABS, and output requirements have not been clearly articulated at this stage, the ABS will engage with users of these statistics to investigate how these data requirements can best be met in the future.