The Census of Agriculture 2016 in Canada: Key Methodological Considerations

1. Regional Roundtable on
World Programme for the Census of Agriculture 2020
Nairobi, Kenya,
18-22 September 2017
The Census of Agriculture 2016 in Canada:
Key Methodological Considerations
Technical Session 04
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Frédéric Normand
Chief, Census of Agriculture
Agriculture Division
Statistics Canada
Frederic.Normand@canada.ca

2. Background and Scope
• A separate Census of Agriculture began in 1896 with the first mid-decade
Census of Agriculture in 1956
• Classical approach as defined by the FAO’s WCA 2020
• Legal basis: Collected under the Authority of the Statistics Act
• Unique source for:
• small/custom geographic areas
• enumerating rare and emerging commodities
• Provides:
• frame information for the survey program
• comprehensive farm data on commodities, farm finances and farm practices and socio-
economic data on operators and their families
• Meet users needs for agricultural and environmental programs, health
programs, trade and crisis management (floods, disease outbreaks)
• Meet international commitments such as providing accurate measures for
international comparability to the FAO and OECD
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3. Integration with the Agriculture Statistics Program
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4. Background and Scope (3)
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5. Background and Scope (4)
 Databases created from the Census of Agriculture:
◦ Farm database – Agricultural operation level
◦ Farm database – Census Geographic Components level
◦ Operator database
◦ Agriculture-Population Linkage database
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6. Integration with Census of Population
 Conducted simultaneously in May
◦ Timing not optimal for farmers (seeding season) but…
 Reduction of costs
 Improve quality (coverage and response)
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Projects conducted with CEPOP:
• Public communications
• Census Help Line
• Questionnaire printing
• Mail-out, Data reception, Capture,
Internet response
• AG-POP linkage
Projects conducted independently:
• Content determination
• Census of Agriculture frame
management
• Follow-up (Non-response &
failed edit)
• Data processing

7. Methodological Considerations:
Target Population
 All agricultural operations in Canada that produce
any agricultural products with the intention to sell.
 Farms with very low farm revenues—commonly
called "hobby" farms—are included as long as the
agricultural products produced are intended for
sale.
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8. Methodological Considerations: Content
determination
 Content consultation
◦ Consultation workshops across the country
◦ All requests for content require a written submission
 Content testing
◦ Qualifying content suggestions are tested with farmers using
 One on one interviews
 Focus Group
◦ Conducted by a group of experts
◦ Farm operators are selected
 Cabinet approval
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9. Methodological Considerations: Frame
 From the Farm Register to Business Register (BR)
◦ New unknown population
 Frame coming from:
◦ Statistics Canada’s Business Register
 Updated with signals from regular production and financial surveys
 Tax data
 Agricultural Frame Update Survey
 Multiple sources of administrative data
◦ Self identification on the Census of Population
◦ Sample from ‘unknown’ population
 Population drawn from the BR in February for May
collection
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10. Methodological Considerations: Data Collection
 Use of Remote Collection Methods only
◦ No ‘in-field’ enumeration
◦ Invitation letters with secure code to access electronic questionnaires
(CASI)
◦ Mail-out / Mail-back
◦ Census Help line
◦ CATI for Follow-ups
 Collection done at the Headquarters and 5 Regional offices
 CASI and CATI applications are the same; only 1
questionnaire is used for all units in the Census
 Early collection for complex operations (3 months prior to the
regular collection)
 Use of administrative data to prioritise follow-ups
 Regular Collection completed in 4 months
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11. Methodological Considerations: Data Processing
 Data Reception and Capture
 Match / Unduplication
 Geo-edit
◦ Assigning a geo code to the farm HQ address provided
◦ Web mapping application for 2021
 Error detection
 Micro-Edits
◦ Will be fully automated in 2021
 Imputation
◦ Minimum content
◦ Donor imputation
◦ Use of integrated admin. and survey data in 2021
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12. Methodological Considerations: Validation
 Records stratified based upon contribution to estimates – size by
geography, industry or by operation type
 Sort records based upon coherence with referential and
administrative data sets using a score function
 Attempt is made to validate records by section of the questionnaire
 Place data validation calls to respondents for impacting results
 Clean the imputation donor pool

13. Methodological Considerations: Analysis
 Review of socio-economic context, outlook and development of
anticipation of the results
 Consultation with industry experts
 Validation with numerous administrative data sources and Earth
observation data
 Comparison with other production / commodities surveys
 Coherence with Supply-Use model
 Results for each variable and each province must be
presented and formally approved by the Census of
Agriculture Certification Committee
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14. Methodological Considerations: Dissemination
 All data are disseminated exactly one year after Census day
(available for free in StatCan’s CANSIM database)
 Thematic maps and articles
 Provincial highlights
 Road shows across the country
 Custom Requests
 Additional products released later;
◦ Linkages with Census of Population
◦ Linkages with Tax data
◦ Agriculture at a glance-in depth analytical articles using Census data.
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15. Thank you
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