This year marks a hundred years since the first agricultural census. In honour of the jubilee year, the interesting history of agricultural censuses is collected in the web at www.maatalouslaskenta.fi

The Maatalouslaskenta.fi website traces the rich and intriguing history of agricultural censuses. The first census, a general agricultural survey, was run in 1910, before Finland became independent. On that occasion, the census covered households with the minimum of half a hectare of cultivated land or one domestic animal.

One of the most challenging censuses was implemented in 1941 when Finland was at war. The census was considerably hampered and delayed by the war, and some of the results are unreliable.

In the past, collecting the information for agricultural censuses was very laborious. Even in 1990, the census details were collected through farm visits. That year, the census required 5,000 interviewers working for three weeks. Since Finland joined the EU, an increasingly large proportion of the census details is available from the registers.

The Maatalouslaskenta.fi website will open on 4 May 2010.

Agricultural Census 2010 allows answers online
The collection of information for Agricultural Census 2010 will begin in September 2010 and take about six months. The census will be executed in Finland by Tike, the Information Centre of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. The information will be collected from farmers on an e-form on the internet or alternatively through a telephone interview. This year, about 65% of the data content of the census will be obtained from the registers held by the agricultural administration, and the rest will be collected from farms and horticultural enterprises.

The e-form is used for the first time. It has a number of advantages compared to the paper form and telephone interview. The e-form provides more guidelines for the respondent than the paper form, and it adapts to the individual user. It also guides the farmer to fill in the mandatory details and alerts him to e.g. saving errors. The goal is for more than half the respondents to use the e-form.

The first results of the agricultural census will be published at the end of 2011.

For more information, contact:
Project Manager Jaana Kyyrä tel. +358 (0)20 77 21292
Project Researcher Pasi Mattila tel. +358 (0)20 77 21300
E-mail: maatalouslaskenta@mmmtike.fi