User Guide
- Contents -
Representation and Coverage
All FBS results relate to the national population as a whole, not to the sample alone.
For example, in the following table taken from the 2003/04 FBS, the total number of farms in the
population is given (59,224) not the 2000 or so farms in the FBS sample.
Total |
59,224 |
27,238 |
9,135 |
Part time |
15,793 |
8,915 |
2,536 |
Full Time |
43,431 |
18,323 |
6,599 |
Representing the whole population is achieved by designing a balanced
sample and by weighting
the results. This is standard practice for survey work. The end results
are estimates of the true values which are not totally precise but are subject
to a degree of
sampling error
arising from the randomness of the sample selection process.
Coverage (Population)
There is more to be said about the 'population'. The England FBS
does not, unfortunately, cover all of the estimated 120,000 farm
businesses in the country but only those of a size considered sufficient
to result in a "standardised output" from the farm of at least €25,000
(see why).
This minimum size threshold is defined technically by the
Standard Output (SO).
Its effect is to exclude half of the farm businesses in the country, so this has to be borne in mind when interpreting FBS results.
However, although the FBS minimum size threshold excludes half of all farms, these farms are very small and, in total, account for
only 4% of national agricultural production. However, for some potential applications, the exclusion of these farms could be more
significant. For example, these farms account for 10% of total agricultural area and 30% of total farmers and workers.
Estimates for farms below €25,000 SO cannot be obtained from the FBS because none of these farms are represented in the FBS sample.