Farm Business Survey 2021-22: Farm level emissions and nitrogen usage: Methodology

Timeliness and Punctuality

Timeliness is about releasing statistics in a timely and punctual manner.

The ‘Farm Business Survey: Farm level emissions and nitrogen usage’ Experimental Statistics publication was first released on the 21 June 2023 at Farm Business Survey 2021-22: Farm level emissions and nitrogen usage.

These data are designated as experimental statistics. They are newly developed statistics undergoing testing. Part of this testing will include frequency of publication. These data are being released as experimental to involve users in the assessment of their suitability and quality at an early stage.

Farms in the Farm Business Survey have accounting year-ends between November and May. Data collection for farms with May year-ends cannot begin until June. Data collection, fieldwork and processing takes several months, and the finalised dataset is passed to the Scottish Government in December.

Economic results from the survey are released in March of the following year. This allows sufficient time for data processing, analysis and quality assurance, as well as compilation, preparation and dissemination of final results.

Results on farm level emissions and nitrogen usage are processed after completion of the economic results that contribute to the National Statistics Publication on Farm Business Income and cannot be released earlier than March of the year following the data collection period.