Integrated Farm Structure Survey; 2020, 2023

The Integrated Farm Statistics provides information on the number of agricultural holdings, area and use of agricultural land, agricultural production methods (tillage, soil cover in winter, irrigation), livestock populations, animal housing facilities, fertiliser management, agricultural machinery and equipment, labour force in agriculture, and other gainful activities.

The data are compiled and published based on the following classifications:

Agricultural Census 2020

• Classification of Administrative Territories and Territorial Units (ATVK), in force until 30 June 2021;
• Classification of Administrative Territories and Territorial Units (ATVK), in force from 1 July 2021;
• Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS);
• Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community (NACE Rev. 2).

Integrated Farm Statistics 2023

• Classification of Administrative Territories and Territorial Units (ATVK 2021)*;

* Data for the period until 2023 are classified based on the Classification of Administrative Territories and Territorial Units (ATVK), in force when the data were collected;

• Classification of Administrative Territories and Territorial Units (ATVK 2024)**

** Data for 2023 are also published based on the ATVK 2024.

• Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS 2021).

Agricultural sector.

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Integrated Farm Statistics covers economically active agricultural holdings producing agricultural goods or maintaining soil at good agricultural and environmental condition, the utilised agricultural area in which exceeded 1 ha or Standard Output (SO) of which exceeded 70 euro, regardless of the agricultural area.

Total territory of Latvia, statistical regions, municipalities.

Comparable data are available for the period since 2001. The data are also comparable with data of Farm Structure Survey.

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• Agricultural holdings, absolute number and number in thousands
• Agricultural area, hectares and thousand hectares
• Average area of agricultural land and crops per holding, hectares
• Livestock populations, absolute number and number in thousands
• Persons employed in agriculture, absolute number and number in thousands
• Standard output, thousand euro

Year

The data are collected and compiled in accordance with the criteria set out in:

• Regulation (EU) 2018/1091 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 July 2018 on integrated farm statistics and repealing Regulations (EC) No 1166/2008 and (EU) No 1337/2011;
• Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1874 of 29 November 2018 on the data to be provided for 2020 under Regulation (EU) 2018/1091 of the European Parliament and of the Council on integrated farm statistics and repealing Regulations (EC) No 1166/2008 and (EU) No 1337/2011, as regards the list of variables and their description;
• Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/2286 of 16 December 2021 on the data to be provided for the reference year 2023 pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2018/1091 of the European Parliament and of the Council on integrated farm statistics as regards the list of variables and their description and repealing Commission Regulation (EC) No 1200/2009;

EU legislation requires Member States to carry out agricultural censuses every ten years, but in between the censuses (from 2020 to 2029) an Integrated Farm Statistics survey must be conducted every three years (in 2023 and 2026).

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Confidentiality of the information provided is protected by Statistics Law: 

Section 7. Competence of the Statistical Institution in Production of Official Statistics

• (2) The statistical institution shall:
• 8) ensure statistical confidentiality in accordance with the procedures laid down in this Law;

Section 17. Data Processing and Statistical Confidentiality

Section 19. Dissemination of Official Statistics

• (1) The statistical institution shall disseminate official statistics in a way that does not allow either directly or indirectly identify a private individual or a State institution in cases other than those laid down in Section 25 of this Law.
• (2) The statistical institution shall publish the official statistics which have been produced within the framework of the Official Statistics Programme in a publicly available form and by a predetermined deadline on the portal of official statistics. Until the moment of publication of official statistics this statistics shall not be published.

Confidential cells in business statistics are defined by using minimum frequency rule (n) and dominance criterion (n, k).

A cell in a table is considered safe if there are at least four contributors (respondents, n=4) and the share of the largest contributor in the total cell value does not exceed 80 % (1.80) or the share of two largest contributors in the total cell value does not exceed 90 % (2.90).

All official statistics are published according to the advance dissemination calendar, at 13:00.

Data release calendar

Statistical release dates and times are pre-announced in the data dissemination calendar.

Data are published every three years.

Agricultural Census 2020

12.05.2021   Size of agricultural holdings, and the utilised agricultural land they manage increased

16.11.2021   Most Latvian agricultural holdings specialised in field cropping

17.12.2021   Large agricultural holdings are farming 51 % of agricultural area

31.03.2022   Agricultural holdings managed 30 % of the territory of Latvia

Integrated Farm Statistics 2023

15.05.2024   Average size of an agricultural holding is growing

17.10.2024   Share of large holdings is growing

20.12.2024   Utilised agricultural area per one farm keeps growing

28.04.2024 First release of the information about use of management information systems on agricultural holdings (Pirmoreiz apkopoti dati par elektroniskās pārvaldības sistēmu izmantošanu Latvijas lauku saimniecībās, in Latvian)

Agricultural Census 2020

31.03.2022   summarised Agricultural Census 2020 results (2020. gada lauksaimniecības skaitīšanas rezultātu kopsavilkums, in Latvian)

14.06.2022   Results of the Agricultural Census 2020

Integrated Farm Statistics 2023

07.04.2025   Integrated Farm Statistics 2023

Statistics database

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To achieve high user satisfaction and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements, the CSB has introduced a Quality Management System (QMS). The system defines and, at the procedural level, describes processes of statistical production and identifies the persons responsible for their monitoring throughout all production stages. Its structure follows the principles of the Generic Statistical Business Process Model (GSBPM).

The QMS sets out the sequence in which processes are implemented – that is, the activities to be performed, including verifications of processes and produced statistics, the order and implementation requirements of these activities, and the persons responsible for their execution. It also defines the approach to evaluating production processes and their outcomes, and to implementing necessary improvements.

The CSB quality management system is certified to the ISO 9001:2015 standard Quality management systems — Requirements since 2018 (scope of certification: development, production and dissemination of official statistics). The original certification audit was performed by BM Trada Latvija SIA and a recertification audit, in 2024, was performed by Bureau Veritas Latvia SIA.

The CSB information security management system is certified to the ISO/IEC 27001:2022 standard Information security, cybersecurity and privacy protection — Information security management systems — Requirements since 2017 (scope of certification: collection, processing and storage of information and data for functions of the Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia. Provision of statistical information for inland and foreign users). The original certification audit was performed by BM Certification SIA and a recertification audit, in 2024, was performed by Bureau Veritas Latvia SIA.

The quality of statistics is assessed in accordance with the existing requirements of both external and internal regulatory enactments, as well as the established quality criteria.

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European statistics stipulates that European statistics shall be developed, produced and disseminated on the basis of uniform standards and harmonised methods. In this context, the following quality criteria shall apply: relevance, accuracy, timeliness, punctuality, accessibility, clarity, comparability and coherence.

As the national statistical institute and the principal authority of the national statistical system, the CSB has set common general institutional-level quality requirements for authorities responsible for producing or providing national statistics. These requirements are based on the European Statistics Code of Practice, which comprises 16 principles.

The overall assessment of data quality is good.

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CSB aims to produce reliable statistics, which serve as a basis for analysing socio-economic trends and informing decisions. Feedback on data quality can be sent by the e-mail to pasts@csp.gov.lv

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Eurostat (statistical office of the European Union) is responsible for publishing high-quality Europe-wide statistics and indicators that enable comparisons between countries and regions. Statistics for agriculture is available in the Eurostat database, in section Agriculture, forestry and fisheries / Agriculture.

The data are comparable with the Farm Structure Survey results. Comparable data are available since 2001.

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In line with the strategic directions of the European Statistics System and latest trends in statistical production, continuous use of information acquired in regular CSB surveys and proportionate reduction of the response burden are among the key CSB priorities.

In cooperation with holders of administrative data and in line with the competences provided for in the Statistics Law, CSB is striving to solve the issues related to the use of administrative data sources, thus aiming to acquire as comprehensive and high-quality administrative data allowing to reduce response burden on enterprises and households as possible.

CSB measures to improve use of administrative data and reduce response burden taken in 2024 (in Latvian only).

Revision Policy is an important component of good governance practice addressed more and more often in the international statistical society. The objective of the Revision Policy is to lay down the order of review or revision of the prepared and published data. The first chapter of the present document explains the terms applied in the Revision Policy, the second chapter shortly characterises the CSB Revision Policy, whereas the third chapter stipulates the revision cycle of the statistical data produced by the CSB.

Revision policy guidelines 08.09.2022 (PDF, 597 KB)

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The data source is Integrated Farm Statistics survey conducted as Agricultural Census in 2020 and as a sample survey in 2023. Agricultural holdings are selected from the Statistical Farm Register.

Data sources in Agricultural Census 2020

• CSB questionnaire Agricultural Census 2020 (AC-2020);
• Administrative sources:
  • • Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS), EU Direct Payments Database managed by the Rural Support Service (RSS) for the information on the area of crops sown;
    • RSS IACS information on projects that have received payments covered by the support measures;
    • Animal Register managed by the Agricultural Data Centre (ADC) for the information on the number of livestock in holdings, including information on livestock bred using organic production methods;
    • Housing facilities infrastructure and manure storage register managed by the ADC for the information about animal housing facilities and manure management in holdings;
    • Organic farming information system managed by the ADC for the information about certified areas of organically grown crops and conversion period areas in farms.

Data sources in Integrated Farm Statistics 2023

• CSB questionnaire Integrated Farm Statistics 2023 (IFS-2023);
• Administrative sources:
  • • RSS IACS, EU Direct Payments Database for the information on the crop areas;
    • RSS IACS information on projects that have received payments covered by the support measures;
    • ADC Animal Register for the information on the number of livestock in holdings, including information on livestock bred using organic production methods;
    • Housing facilities infrastructure and manure storage register managed by the ADC for the information about manure management, manure storage facilities,  animal housing facilities, animal feeding systems in holdings;
    • Organic farming information system managed by the ADC for the information about certified areas of organically grown crops and conversion period areas in farms.

Once every three to four years.

Reference date

Agricultural Census 2020

• Land use – 2020
• Area of agriculture crops – areas sown for the 2020 harvest
• Number of livestock – 1 July 2020
• Labour force in agriculture – 12 months prior the reporting date, from 1 July 2019 to 1 July 2020
• Rural development support measures – a period of three years, from 2018 to 2020

Integrated Farm Statistics 2023

• Land use, machinery and equipment – 2023
• Area of agriculture crops – areas sown for the 2023 harvest
• Number of livestock – 1 July 2023
• Labour force in agriculture – 12 months prior the reference or reporting date, from 1 July 2022 to 1 July 2023
• Rural development support measures – a period of three years, from 2021 to 2023

Sample size

Agricultural Census 2020 was conducted as a census, in accordance with the physical thresholds defined in Annex II to Regulation (EU) 2018/1091 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 July 2018.

The following thresholds were used:

• 5 hectares of utilised agricultural area, or
• 2 hectares arable land, or
• 0.5 hectares of potatoes, vegetables, or strawberry plantations, or
• 0.2 hectares of medicinal plants, culinary plants, herbs, flowers and ornamental plants, nurseries, or
• 0.3 hectares of fruit trees or berries, or
• 100 m2 of greenhouses or cultivated mushrooms, or
• number of livestock met at least 1.7 livestock units.

Agricultural holdings with areas or livestock numbers below the specified thresholds were surveyed using a sampling method. The sample size was 2 000 farms.

The sample for the Integrated Farm Statistics 2023 was built as a stratified simple random sample. The survey covered economically active agricultural holdings with a standard output (SO) exceeding 70 euro and with at least 1 hectare of utilised agricultural area. The holdings were stratified by location (NUTS 3), farm type (specialisation), and economic size. The survey included a total of 22 000 agricultural holdings.

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The data are extrapolated to the holdings included in the framework extension, taking into account the number of similar holdings represented by the sampled holdings and the actual response rate in each of the survey areas.

Administrative grouping of holdings is based on the main production site, to which all managed land and farmed animals are assigned for reporting purposes. The main production site is defined as the location with the largest land parcel or the main livestock housing facility.

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