Economic Accounts for Agriculture

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Food Industries, Business Statistics
Simone Thun
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Economic Accounts for Agriculture 2024

The Economic accounts for agriculture is a macroeconomic accounting system that illustrates the overall economy of the agricultural sector by providing accounts of production, intermediate consumption, gross investment, and other flows. As a satellite account under the European system of national accounts, this statistic represents the agricultural sector’s contribution to the National Accounts. In 2024, the statistic Gross factor income of agriculture was replaced by the Economic accounts for agriculture, which is regulated by an EU regulation. Accounts for Gross factor income of agriculture are available back to 1935, while the Economic accounts for agriculture in its current form are comparable from 1990 onwards.

Statistical presentation

The Economic accounts for agriculture is an annual compilation of the agricultural sector’s economic activities, including the value of production (output), intermediate consumption, and gross investments. In addition, subsidies, labour input, and the sale of pesticides and mineral fertilizers are presented in separate, dedicated tables. The economic activities are compiled at basic prices and expressed in million DKK, both at current prices and at previous year’s prices. The statistics are compiled at both national and regional level. The agricultural labour input is measured in thousand annual work units (AWU). Direct subsidies to the agricultural sector are presented in million DKK. The sale of mineral fertilizers is compiled in tonnes.

Statistical processing

The Economic accounts for agriculture is a composite statistical product, which means that its calculation basis is built on existing statistics, referred to as primary statistics. The statistics are compiled annually using data from a range of different sources, e.g., the Farm Accountancy Data Network and Feed Production Statistics, as well as from administrative registers, industry organizations, companies, and foundations. Once the data in each primary statistic has been processed, it is transferred to and consolidated in the data processing system for the Economic accounts for agriculture, which calculates the annual values. The value of each product is calculated using the standard “quantity times price” method.

Relevance

The Economic accounts for agriculture are relevant for Danish authorities, the EU, research institutions, and agricultural organizations, as they allow monitoring of developments in the economic activities of the agricultural sector. The statistics also serve as input for the compilation of the National Accounts.

Accuracy and reliability

The uncertainty in the Economic accounts for agriculture is linked to the uncertainty in the primary statistics used for its compilation. For example, issues such as timing can introduce uncertainty, while other information, such as data from dairies and slaughterhouses, is exact. For preliminary calculations, some estimates are based partly on expert judgment and assumptions until the final data are processed in the primary statistics; therefore, the statistics are considered final only after two years. The sold quantities of mineral fertilizers from the Danish Agency for Green Conversion and the Environment are associated with a certain degree of uncertainty. The data come from the annual collection of sales figures, in which companies with registered products are asked to report the quantities sold of those products. Companies have the option to indicate tax-exempt quantities, but this is voluntary, and not all companies use this option. The data collection does not include self-imports, and some products may be double-counted if a company has not used the option to report a sold quantity as tax-exempt. The data quality is therefore directly dependent on the information provided by the companies to the Agency.

Timeliness and punctuality

Preliminary figures for the Economic accounts for agriculture are published no later than 10 months after the end of the reference year. Revised, yet still preliminary, figures are published 22 months after the end of the reference year. Final figures are published no later than 2 years and 10 months after the end of the reference year.

Comparability

The Economic accounts for agriculture replace the Gross Value Added of Agriculture and are published for the first time in 2025 for the years 2022, 2023, and 2024. They are directly comparable with the Gross Value Added of Agriculture, which can be traced back to 1990, while older compilations exist back to 1935. Unlike the Gross Value Added of Agriculture, the Economic accounts for agriculture include changes in farm stocks and livestock in sales values and present sales values at basic prices. In addition, the compilation contains a number of financial accounts that are not included in the Gross Value Added of Agriculture. As a satellite account, the Economic accounts for agriculture are comparable with the National Accounts’ compilations for the agricultural sector.

Accessibility and clarity

The statistics are published in Nyt fra Danmarks Statistik. In StatBank, the Economic accounts for agriculture are available under the subject Agricultural and horticultural economy.