Balfour & Newton Libraries: University wide access to agcensus (hosted by EDINA)

Tuesday, 4 November 2008

University wide access to agcensus (hosted by EDINA)

The Agricultural Census is conducted in June each year by the government departments dealing with Agriculture and Rural Affairs for Scotland, England, and Wales (i.e. The Scottish Government: Agriculture, DEFRA and the Welsh Assembly Government Department for Environment, Planning and Countryside ). Each farmer declares the agricultural activity on the land via a postal questionnaire. The respective government departments collect the 150 items of data and publish information relating to farm holdings for recognised geographies.

The Edinburgh University Data Library has developed algorithms which convert the data for recognised geographies, obtained from the government departments, into grid square estimates. The key to transforming the raw data into grid square data is the definition of each geography (e.g. parish, in the case of Scotland) in terms of 1km squares. Agricultural Census items are distributed over those 1km grid squares with the land use category suitable for the census item in question. The categories are defined by the Landuse Framework, a 7-fold land-use classification of the same 1km grid squares (the seven land-use categories are agricultural land, upland, woodland, restricted agriculture - natural, restricted agriculture - artificial, urban, and inland water). Agricultural Census grid square estimates can be used:

to increase the value of other environmental data.
to assess how agricultural activity might affect a related proposal or project.
to help maximise market potential.
Data can be supplied in value added formats; for example, by including the application of yield factors to the data, (e.g. kilograms per hectare), to calculate market potential for a variety of agricultural related activities.

Quick start guides, reference guides, and demo screen cams are available for the resource.