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Present:
Ann Derwin (DAFM)-Chair
Colm O Cribín - (DAFM)
Graham Neilan - (DAFM)
Steve MacFeely - (CSO)
Margaret McLoughlin - (CSO)
Andrew Murray - (CSO)
Susan O’Connor - (CSO)
Hilda McCarthy - (CSO)
Fiona O’Callaghan - (CSO)
Colm Hassett - (CSO)
Brian Moran - (Teagasc)
Trevor Donnellan - (Teagasc)
Kevin Hanrahan - (Teagasc)
Bernard Hyde - (EPA)
Jane Brogan - (EPA)
Rowena Dwyer - (IFA)
Gerry Looby - (UCD)
Ann Derwin opened the meeting, welcoming any new members. The agenda and minutes were agreed without amendment.
CSO presented a summary of the work completed to date for Census of Agriculture 2010. The problems encountered in merging administrative data with Census Questionnaire data were highlighted. This has taken longer than expected to complete due to the issue of multiple herd numbers.
Deadlines for submission of data to Eurostat are staggered between March 31st 2012 and Dec 31st 2012.
CSO intend to produce preliminary results for Census of Agriculture at the end of the year. This publication will provide the main variables (crops, livestock, area farmed) at county level. The main publication of COA results will provide all COA variables and this should be available in Q4 of 2012.
DAFM gave an overview of their Annual Review and Outlook publication. This is published annually with input from CSO (50%), Departmental sources, Bord Bia, Teagasc, Forfas and other sources. The latest version is available at http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/publications/2011/annualreviewandoutlookforagriculturefisheriesandfood20102011/
Colm explained that the publication requires a lot of coordination during January of each year and the group was asked to take note of the specific chapters relevant to their organizations, to ensure a smooth flow of data.
Brian Moran presented a summary of the National Farm Survey including background, an explanation of the process and a summary of the main outputs. He highlighted the need to reduce the NFS sample size. This would be done by increasing the threshold to include only those farms with a Standard Output of greater than €8,000 per annum. The distribution of farms by each category of standard output was presented in a table and this clearly showed that the NFS sample would still remain representative of farms even after this change comes into effect in 2013.
Discussion followed on the design of the National Farm Survey, in particular the additional module which varies from year to year.
Jane Brogan presented a summary of data requirements on non-natural agricultural waste. Jane is using this data in an Irish model to estimate Agricultural waste. This is based on the UK model for same. Jane welcomed any suggestions from the group on gathering additional data for the model.
The group discussed issues arising from the earlier presentations. DAFM and IFA mentioned the difficulty in getting data on shared farming/partnerships. CSO explained this topic was considered in designing COA 2010 questionnaire but the returns would have been difficult to match and some element of double-counting could not be avoided if the partnership farm(er) was not clearly identified.
The group agreed to hold the next meeting in April/May of 2012.