Agricultural Census covers nearly 30,000 holdings

“The Agricultural Census which will take place in autumn does not concern the whole population this time, but the holdings where there is at least one hectare of utilised agricultural land and where agricultural products are produced mainly for sale,” said Eve Valdvee, Statistics Estonia’s Project Manager of the 2010 Agricultural Census. “By mid-August, all holdings whom we expect to submit data at the Census will have received from Statistics Estonia an appropriate notification with instructions on how and where data can be submitted,” she added.

“We hope to collect a substantial share of data electronically,” Valdvee admitted. All legal persons and all natural persons who have joined Statistics Estonia’s electronic data transmission environment eSTAT can submit data via eSTAT from 1 September to 1 October. Natural persons who have not joined eSTAT can submit data from 1 to 10 September via the eSTAT personal survey channel or, if they do not make use of this opportunity, they will be visited by the enumerator of Statistics Estonia from 15 September to 15 November.

The Agricultural Census will be conducted for the sixth time in Estonia. The previous Agricultural Censuses were organised in 1919, 1925, 1929, 1939 and after the restoration of independence in 2001. In the European Union countries, Agricultural Censuses are conducted in 2009 and 2010. In the European Union countries, Agricultural Censuses take place every ten years.

Additional information on the 2010 Agricultural Census can be found on the website of Statistics Estonia http://www.stat.ee/ac2010.