Horticultural production

Agricultural holding: A single unit, both technically and economically, which has single management and which produces agricultural products.

Area of vegetables: If a specific crop is harvested more than once on the same area during the same growth season, the area is counted only once. If the same area is used for various succeeding crops, the area will be counted for each crop. Consequently, the total area will be greater than the basic area used for production of vegetables, e.g. the area recorded in Applications for Agricultural Production Subsidies.

Production: Defined as production that can be utilized for sale and home consumption.

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Name: Horticultural production
Topic: Agriculture, forestry, hunting and fishing

Division for Housing, Property, Spatial and Agricultural Statistics

County.

Annual.

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A data file with anonymous individual data is stored at Statistics Norway.

The purpose of the statistics is to present annual statistics covering total area, production yields per area unit and total production for important horticultural crops.

Up to 2005 Statistics Norway worked out area and production statistics for horticultural crops. From 1996 to 2004 the Norwegian Agricultural Authority had the responsibility. From 2005 the statistics are again being worked out by Statistics Norway. Methods and procedures were changed when the Norwegian Agricultural Authority was in charge of the statistics. For 2005 Statistics Norway has kept the same methodology as developed and used by the Norwegian Agricultural Authority.

The statistics are used by professional organizations, the Budget Committee for Agriculture, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food and various research institutions such as the Norwegian Agricultural Economics Research Institute.

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Statistics Act §§2-1, 2-2, 2-3.

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Horticultural production comprises statistics on garden berries, fruits, field grown vegetables and vegetables grown in greenhouses. The statistics are based on information about area and production collected by questionnaire in a sample survey. Active agricultural holdings meeting minimum one of the following requirements are included in the statistics:

Cultivating minimum 300 m2 of vegetables grown in greenhouses, including herbs

Cultivating minimum 1,0 decare of field-grown vegetables, including herbs

Cultivating minimum 1,0 decare of fruit

Cultivating minimum 1,0 decare of garden berries

The Register of Applications for Agricultural Production Subsidies provides information about the holding, such as name and address of the holder and size of area of the various crop categories.

Detailed information about cultivated area and production of garden berries, fruits, field-grown vegetables and vegetables in greenhouses are compiled from the questionnaire.

Data on area and production of processing peas and beans are collected from the processing industry.

The sample is based on the list of agricultural holdings used by the Norwegian Agricultural Authority when working out the statistics in the period 1996-2004. As a compensation for agricultural holdings terminating horticultural production, new holdings to the sample are being added. These new holdings are mainly drawn from Applications for Agricultural Production Subsidies.

The sample comprises approximately 3 200 agricultural holdings cultivating at least one of the crop categories.

In November questionnaires are sent to the agricultural holdings in the survey. The respondents may also answer the questionnaire via Internet.

A number of controls and corrections are done to ensure consistency both on a single questionnaire and between questionnaires and available register information. If necessary, holdings are contacted for to clear up misconceptions in the questionnaire.

Production reported in other measuring units than specified on the questionnaire, are recalculated by using predetermined factors.

The data compiled are used to calculate total area, yield per unit of area and total production per crop and county for year of survey.

1. Area: A factor is calculated by dividing area of year of survey by area of the preceding year. The area for both years is reported in the questionnaire. The total area in year of survey is then calculated by multiplying the factor with the total area from the preceding year.

2. Production per area unit: Production per area unit is calculated by dividing total production with cultivated area for holdings where both area and production information is reported on the questionnaire.

3. Total production: Calculated total area (article 1) is multiplied by calculated production per area unit (article 2).

Country figures of area and production of each crop is calculated by adding county figures. For counties where area is given for a crop, but where information about production is lacking, a preliminary figure for production per area unit at country level is used for calculating total production. For the three northernmost counties and in some other particular cases the mean for an adjacent county is used.

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Figures are not presented if there is a risk of identifying any unit.

The statistics are basically comparable back to 1996.

Primary data obtained from questionnaires may contain errors. For instance it can be difficult for the holder to give precise figures for crops that can be sold in bunch or pieces, like radishes. A number of errors are discovered and corrected during the data revision at Statistics Norway. However some measurements and processing errors are unavoidable. Extensive work has been carried out to reduce these errors as much as possible.

Some of the crops are produced by a limited number of holdings. Non-response of holdings with great area will have significant impact on the estimated figures. Regular response-rate for preliminary figures is about 75 percent.

All sample surveys will be encumbered by uncertainty. Generally, the fewer the observations are, the more uncertain the results. Crops based on few observations will be particularly sensitive to extreme values, i.e. values that deviate considerably from the average.

The quality of the register basis from which the sample is selected also has an impact on the quality of the final result.

The survey model is based on yearly successive computations. Preceding years estimated areas for the various crops are multiplied by a factor (see article 9.3.6). The basis area of the various crops is cultivated area registered in the Census of Agriculture 1999. Because of yearly successive calculations (on cultivated area), possible errors can be magnified. Errors in the area calculations will also have impact on the calculations of production. The errors are however, considered not to have too great impact and the model is considered to still obtain reliable estimates for both areas and production.

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