Scottish farm business income: annual estimates 2011-2012

6. Notes on FBI

The Methodology and Quality Note for farm income estimates derived from the Farm Accounts Survey (FAS) can be accessed here, Methodology and Quality Note^[6].

This note includes information on: the methodology behind the FBI measure and other farm income estimates; classifications and definitions used; uses made of the information and an assessment of the quality of the survey and associated results.

6.1 Sample Changes and Revisions

Each year the sample sizes for farm types within the Farm Accounts Survey change. These changes are due to farms exiting the survey and new farms being recruited to replace exiting farms. Also there may be changes to the farm type classification of farms remaining within the survey, which can happen when the composition of the farm business changes. For example, a large investment in production of potatoes may lead to what was previously a Cereal farm being classed as a General Cropping farm.

If farms drop out of the survey, replacements are selected depending on which farm types and sizes are required to achieve a sample which is representative of the population of farms in Scotland. Replacement farms are then selected at random from within these groups. Replacement farm businesses are not always of the same type as the exiting farms.

Table 2 Changes to Farm Business Income Sample Sizes by Farm Type

Revisions have been made to the 2010-11 FBI estimates published in January 2012. These revisions are due to:

(a) the inclusion of an additional seven farms in the results, whose accounts have been finalised since the previous publication.
(b) Amendments to farmer estimates of the closing valuation of stock with actual sales data.

The scale of the revisions are shown in the table below:

Table 3 Revision to 2010-11 Farm Business Income results by farm type:

Source: Farm Accounts Survey.