INFORMING THE MESSAGE
The importance of statistics for the farming sector
Rowena Dwyer
IFA Chief Economist
22nd November 2012
Contents
• IFA structure and policy development
• Role of statistics – recent work
•
Importance of Agriculture – a County Breakdown
• Limitations and challenges
• The future
IFA Structure
947
Branches
87,000
Farmer
Subscribers
29 County
Executives
15 National
Committees
President
10 Project
Teams
Executive
Board
8 Members
Executive
Council
53
Members
(6 dir. elected)
12 Regional
Offices
HQ
Executives
20
Brussels
1 Executive
General
Secretary
Developing and disseminating the message
Internal Communications
• IFA meetings, newsletters to members, briefing documents
• Mobile phone text messaging - IFA News Alerts, Internet
• Coverage in Local/National Radio & Press
External messaging
• Lobbying politicians – local, national, EU level
• Representation on State Agencies – interaction with public
service
• Policy positions and documentation, media campaigns and
demonstrations
Demand for statistics
• Can we say……..?
• Can we show……?
• Can you get……..?
•
Statistics play a vital role in developing and supporting
credible policy arguments
•
Backbone of campaigns, speeches, policy documents
•
CSO, Teagasc, Bord Bia, DAFM, DoF, DPER, C&AG, Central
Bank, ESRI
From this…………….
To this…………….
Data sources for County Exercise
CSO
•
Census of Agriculture 2010 – Preliminary Results,
•
Output, Input and Income in Agriculture 2011 – Final Estimate
•
Regional Accounts for Agriculture 2010
•
Census of Agriculture 2000 – Economic Size Unit (ESU) of Farms
•
Supply and Use And Input-Output Tables 2005
•
QNHS - Persons aged 15 years and over in employment (ILO) classified by
NACE Rev 2 (2 digit), NACE Code 10
•
Census 2011, Profile 3 at Work - Employment, Occupations and Industry
Other
•
Bord Bia, Export Performance 2011 and Prospects 2012
•
Annual Review & Outlook for Agriculture, Food and the Marine 2011/2012,
Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
•
Forestry Service
Limitations and challenges
• Preliminary versus final data – media coverage will always
be on latest release, despite health warnings
• Timing of data – delay between data collection and
publication
• Sensitivity of data - level of detail available can be less
than desired – e.g. further breakdown of intermediate
consumption
• Comparability and reliability of data – survey vs.
administrative data
The future
• Demand for data will never diminish!
• Scope for increased access – e.g. through database
direct
• Improved coordination of data collection between
different agencies
• Continued cooperation with agriculture sector –
Agriculture Census 2010, ASLG
Thank you for your attention