Draft Minutes of 1st Scotstat Group for Agriculture Meeting, Pentland House, 16th January 2004
Present
Stuart Ashworth (Chair)
Morag Mitchell
Ralph Blaney
Ken Thompson
Jonathan Davidson
George Thompson (Secretary)
Michael O'Neill
Apologies
Stuart Elder
Lisa Schneidau
Evan Williams
Steven Thompson
Remit
Michael O'Neill welcomed everyone to the first Scotstat for Agriculture meeting outlining the background to establishing the Group. There then followed a discussion of the remit paper (SGA01/04). It was agreed that the group would cover statistics and data in relation to: primary agriculture, farm household information, forestry, usage of agricultural support scheme data, deer and wild game and crofting. The draft remit was adopted as final.
Chairmanship
Michael O'Neill went on to suggest that the Group required a chairman and representative for the Group to sit on the overarching Scotstat board. He noted that the Executive's preference was for both positions to be occupied by representative from stakeholder groups not a member of the Executive itself. Following a short discussion it was agreed that Stuart Ashworth would chair the Group for 2004 and that he or an nominee appointed by him would sit on the Scotstat board.
Existing statistical information (Papers SGA02/04 to SGA04/04)
There were then three papers presented by Jonathan Davidson and Michael O'Neill on existing information gathered by the Scottish Executive on the Agricultural Census, Aggregate Economic Accounts and Scottish Farm Accounts Survey.
Key points from the discussion were:
Agricultural Census:
Morag Mitchell raised the issue of spatial distribution of data and comparability of statistics compiled at different levels.
Stuart Ashworth raised the issue of organic farming and whether or not it would be worth gathering more data. He also suggested a minor change to the census form in terms of whether a farm was in conversion or not.
Ralph Blaney raised the issue of whether data relating to GM crops should be collected.
Jonathan Davidson replied that:-
The census was based on holdings which are coded on the basis of parishes, and this is the basic building block of the census. Some geography levels not used in publications may be available, so the first action should be to request from census if a particular disaggregation could be provided and not to assume that we cannot expand on our current outputs. Major requests should be supported by reason required, and why the resulting output will be of benefit.
The organic section of the form had not worked well. The wording will be looked at this June, but there are no plans to expand the census form or split every item by organic/not organic. There are other sources of data on organic farming which may not yet have been fully explored.
Questions on GM crops may be viewed as contentious. The census is probably not the best vehicle for this.
Aggregate Economic Accounts
Ken Thompson was interested in what data is collected on land values. Michael O'Neill stated that the Executive is exploring the potential to collect such data from Registers Direct. Surveys such as that conducted by Lloyds TSB were also a source.
Farm Accounts Scheme
Stuart Ashworth asked if this was the most efficient way to collect data on farm incomes an alternative source might be the Inland Revenue. Michael O'Neill replied that whilst that may be a possibility for the future current European legislation meant that the Executive was obliged to undertake the Farm Accounts Scheme. However, incomes data from the Inland Revenue would allow greater comparability between rural household incomes.
Morag Mitchell asked how representative the Farm Accounts Scheme was. Michael O'Neill replied that it was as representative as possible given that it was a voluntary scheme and the Executive provided a representative sample to SAC (the Farm Accounts Scheme contractor) in order to recruit new farms to the scheme.
Ken Thompson asked if the data relating to farm households collected in the scheme was useful. Michael O'Neill replied that the data collected were useful in terms of gauging the level of diversification, however, there are potential limitations in that the survey is voluntary and that farm households are not obliged to divulge non-farm income and it was consequently not possible to say with certainty that the non-farm income estimates produced by the Farm Accounts scheme included all income. Generally the group felt that farm household data was important for the production side and increasingly more so for rural development.
Michael O'Neill noted that there had been some criticism in the past of the way the results of the Farm Accounts Scheme are presented in Farm Incomes in Scotland and suggested that the Group might like to consider what revisions could usefully be made to the publication.
Other issues
Ken Thompson raised the issue of accessing statistics and publications produced by the Scottish Executive through its website and commented that it was often difficult to find publications that he knew were produced and were held on that site. Michael O'Neill noted that others had raised this point on other occasions and invited Ken Thompson to provide comments to pass on to the relevant individuals within the Executive.
Ralph Blaney noted that there were a number of environmental data issues that would be worth raising with the Group and agreed to produce a paper for the next meeting.
Work programme for 2004
It was decided that the following items would form the basis of the Group's work for 2004:
- The issue of spatial distribution and aggregation of data. Morag Mitchell and Ralph Blaney to instigate discussion with Jonathan Davidson over paper for discussion at the next meeting.
- The possibility and practicalities of improving organic data collection.
- Farm Incomes in Scotland. It was agreed that the group would provide suggestions to improve the publication for 2005. Michael O'Neill would be in touch with members following the publication of Farm Incomes in Scotland 2004.
- The Group should examine further the possibilities for benchmarking - Michael O'Neill to discuss possibilities with Stuart Ashworth.
- The Group should investigate the possibilities for rationalisation of data collection where possible and practical to ensure that the burden on farmers was minimised.
Date of the Next Meeting
The next meeting would be held in June or July shortly before the main Scotstat Board.
Stuart Ashworth thanked everyone for attending.
SEERAD ASD-3
March 2004