Data Builder

Are you a farmer? CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE SURVEY

Data builder

FBS data builder is a specialist interactive system for professionals and researchers. It allows direct interrogation of Farm Business Survey (FBS) data to construct user defined tables.

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.

Farm Size All Tenure Types Owner Occupier Tenanted
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.