Page 93 - Special Topic Session (STS) - Volume 1

STS407 Étienne Saint-Pierre
information such as satellite imagery, administrative data collected by various
organizations or in other data collections and using the latest leading edge-
methods to build performing models. In order to adapt to this rapidly
changing context, it is recognized that practices and methods used in the
Census of Agriculture and its level of integration with the rest of the statistical
systems need to undergo a profound transformation. The integration of the
Census of Agriculture (CEAG) - backbone of the Agriculture Statistics Program
(ASP) - with the Integrated Business Statistics Program (IBSP) is an essential
first step.
The evolving context affecting the production of agriculture statistics will
be described in the second section of the paper. A brief description of the IBSP
will be covered in the third section. The fourth section will cover the
fundamental changes and opportunities for the Census of Agriculture 2021
induced at the different stages of the survey cycle resulting from the
integration to the IBSP.

2. A rapidly evolving context
Since 1956, the Census of Agriculture has used a collection model based
on the complete enumeration of farms and data obtained directly from
respondents. As it is the case in many sectors of the economy, the agriculture
sector is undergoing a rapid and profound transformation leading statistics
providers to change their traditional business model to provide the
information required by the data users.

i) Consolidation and complexification of the structures
Results from previous censuses show a massive consolidation of farms in
the agricultural sector in Canada. The number of farm operations declined by
30.0% from 1996 to 2016. Operations have evolved to become larger and
increasingly integrated and complex. In 2016, 25.1% of all agricultural
operations reported being incorporated, compared with 2.2% in 1971. A
growing number of agricultural operations reported more than one business,
where traditionally all agricultural activity was reported as a single business
entity. As agricultural operations move toward incorporation as a business
practice, the level of complexity associated with agricultural operations has
increased as well. The separation of an agricultural venture into legally
separate business units adds to the logistical challenges of handling data
collection and processing used in the traditional survey approach. Farms are
businesses that can now be better handled in the Statistics Canada’s business
survey processing infrastructure.

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