Sample selection

Sample selection for ABARE's farm surveys is made at the region level, by industry, by scale of operations, levels in order to ensure adequate sample representation for different industries, farm sizes and mixes of farm enterprises. Estimates are normally available at all levels down to individual regions.

Samples selected from a population list drawn from the Business Register maintained by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The population list or frame includes all agricultural establishments in a statistical local area, classified by size and major industry.

Only those establishments with an estimated value of agricultural operations [EVAO] above a certain threshold are included in the survey. The EVAO threshold for the most recent survey was $22 500.