The agricultural statistical system is comprised of stakeholders, statistical assets and underlying support systems and principles.
The system seeks to generate statistics meaningful for decision-making, planning and policy making.
Components of the system
Stakeholders
Statistical assets
Support systems and principles
Stakeholders
Stakeholders of the data can be:
- Producers of official national agricultural data (ABS, ABARES).
- Other producers of data (Farmers, Rural Research and Development Corporations (RDCs), state and territory governments, industry bodies, AgTech companies, other Australian Government agencies).
- Users of the data (government, business, farmers, international agencies, general public, academics, Non-Government organisations, trade organisations, think tanks).
Statistical assets
Data, information, statistics or other knowledge that can be used to provide insights into agricultural activity. This can include material from censuses, surveys, commissioned research or administrative data.
Support systems and principles
The underlying framework that allows the system to operate. This can include data sharing arrangements, governance arrangements, legislation, policies and procedures.
Who is involved
Key agencies involved in the agricultural statistical system are:
- the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)
- the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES)
- state and territory governments, RDCs, industry bodies and academics
Learn more about the work of each agency.
ABS
Purpose
To inform Australia’s important decisions by delivering relevant, trusted and objective data, statistics and insights.
Key attributes
- Legislative powers and protections
- Statistical assets and infrastructure
- Independent
Role in the agricultural statistical system
- Provides trusted official agricultural statistics
- Enhances use of public data to inform decisions
- Improving data and statistical capabilities
- Partners with other organisations to expand and improve the quality of statistical data and information available to governments and the community
- Encourages and promotes coordination of official statistics
- Promotes use of common standards, classifications and definitions
- Promotes best practice statistical methodologies
- Minimises burden on businesses by reducing duplication
Lead agency
Activities where ABS is the lead:
- Broadacre crop statistics (except Gross Value of Production (GVP))
- Horticulture crop statistics (except GVP)
- Livestock, including herd and flock estimates (except GVP)
- Livestock slaughtered estimates
- Agriculture related classifications and standards
- Statistical methodology information
Agriculture related statistical releases
- Quarterly livestock slaughtered survey
- Meat and dairy cattle herd numbers
- Broadacre crops, horticulture, cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry, wool and milk – production sold, local value sold, business counts
- Australian international trade data
- Australian employment data
- Australian population census
Agriculture related statistical infrastructure
- Classifications and standards
- Frameworks
- Data integration environment (DataLab)
ABARES
Purpose
To provide robust and objective data, research, analysis, and advice that informs government policy and private decisions affecting Australia’s agriculture, fisheries and forestry, and water resources.
Key attributes
- Part of Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
- Agricultural industry expertise
- Strong relationships with industry and farmers
Role in the agricultural statistical system
- Provides professional independent research analysis and statistics on agriculture, fisheries and forestry industries
- Provides trusted official agricultural statistics
- Builds relationships with farmers and industry bodies
Lead agency
Activities where ABARES is the lead:
- Australian land use statistics
- Agricultural commodity forecasts
- Agricultural labour statistics
- Agricultural finance
- Agricultural pest animals and weeds
- GVP estimates for agricultural commodities
Agriculture related statistical releases
- Australian Agricultural and Grazing Industries Survey (AAGIS)
- Irrigation Survey
- Supplementary surveys
- AgPredict
- Australian Commodities Statistics
- Australian Crop Report
- Agricultural Commodities and Trade Data
- Snapshot of Australia’s Agricultural Workforce
- Australian Agricultural Labour Factsheet
- Labour use in Australian Agriculture
- Financial performance reports
- Pest animals and weed management survey
- Land use maps
- Species distribution maps
- Water Market Outlook
- About my region portal
- Other reports and articles (e.g. emissions, food security)
Agriculture related statistical infrastructure
- Farm Data Portal
- Agricultural Trade Data Portal
- Agricultural Workforce Data Portal
- Australian Collaborative Land Use and Management Program (ACLUMP)