I had wondered over the last few years why the Central Statistics Office (CSO) had stuck with the old format of asking a sample of farmers how many cattle and acres of crops they had. Since the CAP changes and ICBF’s and the Department’s database, all of this information is collected in great detail and is fully accessible. As the CSO puts it in its latest questionnaire, it can now “be obtained directly from administrative records”.

I seem to have been the recipient of CSO surveys for as long as I have been farming, but never have I seen such material as this year requested before. The completion of this year’s questions will give a unique snapshot on what is actually happening on farms – that is, assuming that the sample is representative of the national picture.

While it has been fairly normal to ask for the agricultural qualifications of whoever is actually running and managing the farm, this time a much more comprehensive breakdown of the actual amount of time spent working on the farm is requested, as well as the amount of time spent on other paid work by both the owner and his/her spouse. This is going to give an interesting insight into just how important off-farm work is to farm families, as distinct from pension, social welfare payments, etc.

The questionnaire also asks a number of questions with an eye, I presume, to the current debate on greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. This whole area is coming up the political agenda and it is the first time that I have seen official Ireland wanting to get a handle on how much tillage is done conventionally, that is ploughed and how much is done by min-till or direct drilling, ie, leaving all the crop residues on the ground.

The CSO, again clearly related to the greenhouse gas issue, also asks how the slurry was applied on the farm in the last 12 months – broadcast using a splash plate, land spread with a trailing hose or shoe or injected. It also asks if the slurry was ploughed in within four hours of being spread. This is being asked presumably to get a handle on how much ammonia from the slurry was volatalised.

Some of this information is also being collected under the carbon footprinting exercise being done by Bord Bia.

The fact that it is being done by the CSO, on a national basis, puts it on an entirely new footing.

The CSO in Ireland has an excellent reputation for accuracy and indeed helpfulness.

It will be interesting to see how quickly and what influence this new data will have on our agricultural greenhouse gas negotiations.