Finding data

The Soils inventories and surveys for Scotland Land Capability datasets have been supplied by the Scottish Government in connection with the licence agreement between The James Hutton Institute and the Scottish Government. Data files include 1:25,000, 1:50,000 and 1:250,000 shape files and associated DBF files as well as Classifications for agriculture and forestry Scottish peat surveys, and the Scottish Soils Knowledge and Information Base (SSKIB).

The Agricultural Census is conducted in June each year by the government departments dealing with Agriculture and Rural Affairs for Scotland, England and Wales (i.e. SEERAD, DEFRA and the Welsh Assembly's Department for Environment, Planning and Countryside). Each farmer declares the agricultural activity on the land via a postal questionnaire. The respective government departments collect the 150 items of data and publish information relating to farm holdings for recognised geographies.

Since the late 1990s the agricultural census in England has been conducted as a sample survey  in which data is only sought from a proportion of holdings in each year. The Statistical Directorate of the Welsh Assembly Government commenced with an agricultural survey (to replace the agricultural census) in 2006.

EDINA agcensus service provides access to annual grid square estimates of agricultural activity at 2km, 5km and 10km levels of aggregation for the three UK territories named above from 1969.

The Scottish Government Statistics portal provides access to a wealth of Scottish statistical content on a range of topics such as: crime and justice; economy; environment; labour market; population and migration, school education. There are links to latest statistical publications and news releases and to key resources such as High Level Summary of Statistics, Scottish Indicators of Multiple Deprivation in addition to links to Scottish Surveys including: Scottish Household Survey, Scottish Health Survey; Scottish House Condition Survey; Scottish Crime and Victimisation Survey.

Information about new government initiatives in Scotland, publications and links to other resources such as Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics, GROS, ISD of NHS Scotland, the UK Statistics Authority, and ONS are available.

The Scottish Government provides statistical reports and economic information on a whole range of agriculture, fisheries and rural topics for Scotland including: the Annual Economic Report on Scottish Agriculture; Agricultural Facts and Figures (quick reference); Results of the June Agricultural Census (with comparative annual data for previous 10 years); Abstract of Scottish Agricultural Statistics; Agricultural, Fisheries and Rural Trends; Total Income from Farming and Farm Business Income; Scottish Agricultural Output, Input and Income Statistics; Estimates of the Scottish Cereal Harvest; Agricultural tenancy Statistics.

The Farm Business Survey is a unit within the Institute of Rural Studies, University of Wales Aberystwyth which surveys over 600 farms in Wales. The annual survey, financed by the National Assembly for Wales, incorporates financial and physical data in addition to providing regional, national and EC policy-makers with information on economic conditions of different types and sizes of farms in Wales. The online database has two main statistical sections: Outputs, Inputs and Incomes; and Enterprise Gross Margins going back to 2004-05.

This Scottish Government site provides an overview of the Scottish fishing fleet, fishermen employed and landings annual data

The CIS is a Windows-based program developed to provide access to spatial information about the British countryside. It contains a wide range of environmental data for each kilometre resolution grid reference for Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Search or browse the data catalogue for dataset categories which include: administrative areas; agriculture; land classification; land cover & linear features; species; vegetation.
The latest version of the CIS software can be downloaded free of charge. Online documentation is also available.

Links to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs department statistics, description of key work areas, surveys and data sources and the Farm Business Yearbook. Topics include: Agricultural statistics; Food statistics; Animal disease statistics.

The USDA Economics, Statistics and Market Information System contains nearly 2500 reports and datasets from several agencies of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. These materials cover U.S. and international agriculture and related topics such as: commodities; field crops; economics & management;  livestock, dairy & poultry; trade and international; weather. Most reports are text files that contain time-sensitive information. Most data sets are in spreadsheet format and include time-series data that are updated yearly.

Current datasets arranged by subject, commodity and geography are also available via the Economic Research Service

Information about data extraction and formats:

THIS IS THE DOCUMENTATION FOR THE USDA-NASS COUNTY ESTIMATES FILES.
THE FILES ON THE DISKETTE ARE COMPRESSED.  THE DATA ARE IN EXECUTABLE FILES
THAT WILL CREATE UNCOMPRESSED FILES ON THE C: DRIVE REQUIRING 5 TIMES THE SPACE 
OF THE COMPRESSED FILE.  BEFORE EXECUTING A COMMAND, CHANGE TO THE DIRECTORY
WHERE YOU WANT THE UNCOMPRESSED FILE(S) CREATED.  TYPE A:filename WITHOUT THE
EXTENSION.  THE filename IS THE CROP CODE AND THE CROP YEAR(s).  FOLLOWING ARE
COMMANDS TO MAKE A NEW DIRECTORY AND UNCOMPRESS SOYBEANS FOR 1989 AND 1990:
          C:\> MD COEST
          C:\> CD\COEST
          C:\COEST> A:SB8990
     THE UNCOMPRESSED SOYBEAN FILE WILL BE SB8990.DAT

(see URL: http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/nass/9X100/93100/A/6/README.TXT)

In the top left corner, choose the theme of interest e.g. population and migration; economy; education and training; social and welfare.  There are also links to key statistics such as earnings, economic indicators, employment, GDP, inflation etc. A hierarchical index leads to online statistical reports and publications freely available to the public. Other resources include journal articles and time series data in addition to neighbourhood statistics, population census, a UK statistical snapshot.