Agricultural Production Survey/Census (APS)
The Agricultural Production Statistics is a large-scale survey programme providing statistics on agricultural and forestry activity in New Zealand. The surveys collect information on livestock numbers, arable farming, horticulture and land use activities and practices on farms and forests. The surveys are undertaken by SNZ in partnership with the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI).
2021 APS Questionnaire
Purpose
The APS is conducted by Statistics NZ to provide information about agricultural, horticultural and forestry activity. APS responses are used in the derivation of GDP measures for agriculture, horticulture and forestry, and these industries are excluded from the AES survey population.
Content
The APS collects information on the inputs and outputs of agricultural production, including the total area of land by land use, application of various types of fertilizer, livestock numbers, and production of various crops.
Coverage
The population for the APS is all businesses involved in agriculture (livestock and arable farming), horticulture or forestry production. Around 20,000 enterprises return useable responses in most years, with a full census held every five years resulting in around 45,000 useable responses. Until 2012, horticulture firms were surveyed every second (even) year. [From 2012 onwards, one observation of horticulture firms has been dropped from the five-year survey cycle, resulting in the following pattern of surveying: 2012 – Full Census; 2013 – Survey, excluding horticulture; 2014 – Census of all horticulture units, survey of other units; 2015 – Survey, excluding horticulture; 2016 – Survey, excluding horticulture; 2017 – Full Census (start of new survey cycle).]
The survey unit is the “farm” – one or more blocks of land managed as a single operation engaged in agricultural activity. In early years, the APS was surveyed at the “sub-KAU” level – a contiguous block of land (one or more GEOs) operating in the same industry (“kind of activity”). APS was the only survey using sub-KAUs and has recently shifted to surveying at the GEO level. Where a farm is operated by someone other than the owner (eg, a sharemilker) the questionnaire is intended to be completed by the owner, with input from the operator as required.
Tips and tricks
(from the Rough Guide to the LBD)
The APS survey form has undergone multiple revisions over the period from 2002-2013. Documentation of the line items collected in each year has been prepared by Richard Fabling and is available in the shared metadata folder in the Datalab (Fabling, 2015).58 The APS fact table compiles all the consistently measured variables over time. Other variables are available in survey year-specific load tables.
The LBD-derived flag ibd_imputed indicates an imputed observation. Similarly, ibd_exited indicates farms deemed to have left the population.
Links
Information on Stats NZ DataInfo
2021 APS Questionnaire