Why don Census of Agriculture data come out at the same time as that of the Census of Population?
The Agriculture Division of Statistics Canada processes Census of Agriculture questionnaires. Information down to the lowest level of geography was released on June 12, 2002. Census of Population questionnaires are always processed separately from Census of Agriculture. Data for two variables, population and dwellings, were released on March 12, 2002 and other major releases will be staggered throughout the coming year. The Census of Agriculture releases all its farm variable data (more than 300 variables) on May 15, 2002, a year from Census Day. With over 247,000 farms reporting across Canada and 16 pages per questionnaire, a significant amount of processing must be completed within a year from Census Day. The Census of Agriculture processing schedule has many Step s to ensure data quality, including follow-up calls to farmers to verify information and find farms that may have been missed during enumeration.
