Accuracy and reliability
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Food Industries, Business StatisticsKarsten Larsen
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The statistics cover all agricultural land in Denmark for which crop subsidies have been applied for. Very little agricultural land is cultivated in Denmark for which area support is not applied for. The source data for the statistics are obtained from the General Agricultural Register (GLR), which is also used as a source in the Agricultural and Horticultural Census, and covers virtually all agricultural land in Denmark, and is considered a reliable source. The cadastral register overlaid on the applied plots of land is considered to be of high quality. However, the comparison of field maps and the cadastre gives rise to some choices of cadastres/plots for the statistics. For ownership by persons, citizenship is considered to be of very high quality. Information on ownership from the CVR when it is persons or real owners is considered to be of good quality. Supplement with data from Eurostat's group register are made.
Overall accuracy
The statistics include all land in possession of farmers applying for crop subsidies. Very little agricultural land is cultivated in Denmark without support subsidies.
Sampling error
Not relevant for these statistics.
Non-sampling error
The statistics include all land in possession of farmers applying for crop subsidies. Farmers not applying for subsidies are the thereby excluded. However, they are estimated to possess no more the 10-20.000 hectares out of a total Danish area of 2.6 million hectares of agricultural land.
When calculating the agricultural area distributed by country, there is some uncertainty due to the fact that the ownership shares of a property do not always add up to 100%. Example: A property has a German owner with a 20% share and a Danish owner with a 60% share. This means that 20% of the area cannot be accounted for. In such cases, the ownership shares are adjusted proportionally using a factor of 100/(20+60) = 1.25, so that the German share becomes 20×1.25 = 25 and the Danish share becomes 60×1.25 = 75. Such cases amount to 1,304 ha in 2022, 285 ha in 2023, and 332 ha in 2024. For all three years, this is less than 1 per mille of the total agricultural area.
Quality management
Statistics Denmark follows the recommendations on organisation and management of quality given in the Code of Practice for European Statistics (CoP) and the implementation guidelines given in the Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical System (QAF). A Working Group on Quality and a central quality assurance function have been established to continuously carry through control of products and processes.
Quality assurance
Statistics Denmark follows the principles in the Code of Practice for European Statistics (CoP) and uses the Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical System (QAF) for the implementation of the principles. This involves continuous decentralized and central control of products and processes based on documentation following international standards. The central quality assurance function reports to the Working Group on Quality. Reports include suggestions for improvement that are assessed, decided and subsequently implemented.
Quality assessment
No quality assessment is available so far regarding the statistics.
Data revision - policy
Statistics Denmark revises published figures in accordance with the Revision Policy for Statistics Denmark. The common procedures and principles of the Revision Policy are for some statistics supplemented by a specific revision practice.
Data revision practice
For ownership in 2020 and 2021, SVUR data for ownership was used. From 2022, the Owners' Register will be used. At the publication in May 2025, the figures for 2020-2022 were revised, where a new improved method was introduced. The method involves, among other things, the inclusion of a new data source (Eurostat's Group Register - EGR) as well as an improved GIS analysis between Field Maps and the Cadastre, which provides a greater match between the areas than previously. This means a smaller increase in the area and smaller changes in areas that have Danish, foreign and undisclosed ownership. For the publication in 2026, the 2024 figures will be updated, as a consequence of the update frequency in Eurostat's Group Register (EGR).