Government ag data “not match fit”, analysts say

Agricultural analysts say crucial policy and farming decisions are being curtailed by slow data.

The Federal Government’s agricultural statistics are often outdated by the time they’re released and lack crucial information compared to our global trading competitors, industry analysts say.

Grain Growers chief executive David McKeon said the Australian Bureau of Statistics and Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences needed to speed up their release of crucial statistical information relied on by the industry to inform timely business and policy decisions.

He said the ABS’ release of the Agricultural Census data for the 2020-21 financial year last month was a perfect example of stale information.

“It’s reflective of the 2020 winter crop. It’s not match fit. We’ve now got the 2022 Australian winter crop well advanced and I think we have to ask the question, are agricultural statistics match fit for a modern world to help inform smart policy decisions for the government and industry,” Mr McKeon said.

“Data collection is moving at a rapid rate globally. We have the opportunity to combine public and private data sets and we know the ABS has been looking at some of this, but the reality is we need to move much faster and get our official statistics up to speed.”

The ABS’ 2020-21 Agricultural Census was the last agricultural census to be released by the bureau before a new data regime begins. Picture: Andy Rogers

It appears the ABS is aware of its own shortcomings, announcing its annual agricultural census would cease after the release of the 2020-21 data. In November last year it signalled it would partner with industry and other stakeholders to co-design methods to produce more timely and detailed agricultural statistics using new data sources, rather than through an annual survey or five-yearly agricultural censuses.

Thomas Elder Markets analyst Andrew Whitelaw says the ABS’ agricultural data is a “teasure trove”, but needs to be released more frequently.

Thomas Elder Markets analyst Andrew Whitelaw said while the ABS’s data was invaluable, he agreed with Mr McKeon’s assessment that the bureau needed to be quicker in its release of information.

“That ABS data is golden, however I agree, it would be fantastic if it was a bit more expedient in coming out. By the time it comes out its not much use for anything other than long-term planning,” Mr Whitelaw said.

He said compared to other major agricultural exporters like the US, Ukraine and UK, Australia’s publicly available data was limited.

“Most of the other export-focused countries put out monthly updates. We do it every two months, and it has to be paid for (for grains data). As a data analyst, I believe in a data democracy. The government needs good data out there so everyone can make good, strategic, objective, data-defined decisions,” he said.

A ABS spokesman said export statistics relating to agricultural products were not in the scope of the modernisation efforts under the ABS’ agricultural statistics program.

Mr Whitelaw said this was a concern for the industry, which needed more data not less.

“If that data starts to disappear from the public domain and is only available to those with big wallets, this is an issue for farmers, lobby groups and state farming organisations because it’s only there for the big end of town,” he said.