9 January 1985 Farm income statistics questioned

Levels of farm income and how many people work to make that income in New Zealand farming are inadequately measured, according to a leading Irish agricultural economist presently working at Lincoln College.

Dr E.A. (Ted) Attwood, who heads the economic unit of the Irish Department of Agriculture, gives his view in a discussion paper released by the Agricultural Economic Research Unit at the college.

He is visiting research fellow at the AERU.

Present farm income figures do not give a reasonable representation of earnings because of basic statistical inadequacies Dr Attwood says.

Most farm income statistics are derived from special farm income surveys carried out by several different organisations.

These surveys, based on farm accounts data that seems to have a clear bias on income levels, use widely-differing methods.

A competent authority should examine these surveys to make a detailed appraisal of measures that might be taken to provide more accurate data on farm income.

Dr Attwood says the level of farm income and the number of people working to create that income will be of growing concern in corning years.

Such information is essential if agriculture in New Zealand is to achieve optimum development in a very uncertain world, he says.

Consideration should also be given to producing alternative measures of the economic health of farming and of the different sectors within farming .

Total reliance on net farm income data , even when on a national and uniform basis, may not adequately express the true economic situation.

Cash flow, already important on individual farms, was a measure that could be extended to groups of farms or farming as a whole.

Effective agricultural policy requires accurate knowledge of average farm incomes, the trends in income s and who gets the income.

This information should be available for farming as a whole, and also for the different farm types so that comparisons could be made.

Income data, both current and historical, is essential in assessing and understanding the flow of resources into agriculture and between the various agricultural sectors.

The present state of knowledge of per capita incomes is not satisfactory, Dr Attwood says.

An aggregate net income figure published by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries provide basic information on farm incomes.

However, knowing how many people that income is distributed among is essential to understanding that figure .

Unfortunately, data on the size of the agricultural labour force, particularly family labour, is unreliable and difficult to interpret.

In recent years women have been far more widely recognised as working owners on farms.

However, knowing how many people that income is distributed among is essential to understanding that figure .

Unfortunately, data on the size of the agricultural labour force, particularly family labour, is unreliable and difficult to interpret.

In recent years women have been far more widely recognised as working owners on farms.

Determining the importance of this trend is not possible because of earlier lack of figures.

Dr Attwood says there is an urgent need to collect meaningful data on how many people are in the farm labour force.

The level of employment is one of the key issues in economic policy .

Further information from Dr Ted Attwood , Agricultural Economics Research Unit , Lincoln College, Canterbury 8150.