Assessment of the Swiss Farm Accountancy Data Network target populations

This study assesses a new standard-output-based approach for the target population of the Swiss Farm Accountancy Data Network. The analysis depicts that the standard output per farm is an appropriate measure for delimiting the target population. It is shown that a major fraction of the summed census livestock and crop area is covered by the target populations. It is demonstrated that the threshold value significantly impacts on statistical measures of structural variables. Furthermore, the new scheme was compared to three other concepts for the target population. The investigation reveals substantial differences among the four different concepts for the target population, regarding both the coverage of structural variables and the number of farms per farm type.