Martin Lachance, Statistics Canada The Third International Conference on Establishment Surveys Reconciliation of the 2006 Canadian Census of Agriculture with the Farm Register

2 Introduction Census of Agriculture - CEAG Collected : contact info + commodities + practices + financial info Survey Frame : Crops, Livestock, Environmental surveys, etc Reference date: May 16, 2006 Collection : hand in hand with Census of Population, mail-out + field

3 Introduction Farm Register - FR Repository : list of farms + contact info + historical profiling Reference for Census of Agriculture coverage Manages survey collection CEAG --- > FR Reconciliation: add farms + update contact info + update profile

4 Introduction Reconciliation => Integration  May 16, 2006  ~230,000 farms  ~330,000 farm operators  3 operators/farm (max)  Evolves constantly  ~280,000 farms  ~410,000 farm operators  3 operators/farm (max) Survey Updates CEAG Census of Agriculture FR Farm Register

5 May 16, 2006 CEAG – Census Overview Missing known operations? (Match – Follow-Ups – Unduplication) FR – Snapshot FR – Farm Register

6 May 16, 2006 Overview => Reconciliation May 16, 2006 CEAG – Census FR – Snapshot Pre-reconciled

7 CEAG Different collection methods => different sources of errors MethodFarms (%)Specific Source of Error Paper80 %Handwriting affecting scan Computer Assisted Telephone Interview 15 %Typos, phonetics Internet5 %Typos Aside from response errors...

8 Coverage & Pre-reconciliation May 16, 2006 CEAG – Census FR – Snapshot Prior to 2006 Census: Link to Snapshot only: no reconciliation of administrative info Census coverage Pre-reconciled 2006: Census coverage Link + micro-editing of CEAG administrative info Farm Operator (farmer)

9 Matching Operations May 16, 2006 (farms) May 16, 2006 (farms) UPDATED CEAG – Census FR – Snapshot Census of Population May 16, 2006 (households)

10 Benefits of Pre-reconciliation Take advantage of powerful match systems CEAG has “cleaner” administrative data (May 16, 2006) Increased linkage to the Census of Population and FR Snapshot thanks to “cleaner” data Link to Census of Population may bring information missing on both CEAG and FR: e.g. Same people on CEAG and FR, living together according to the Census of Population, but missing the date of birth of one operator, only available on Census of Population.

11 Benefits of Pre-reconciliation Provide Reconciliation with links at the operator level Help to identify inconsistencies on the Farm Register: dates of birth mixed up (criss-cross information on operators) identify duplicates of operators still on Farm Register Reconciliation accelerated for most Farm Register farms with no survey updates since Census Day (May 16, 2006): Farm Register Snapshot = Farm Register “live”

12 Pre-reconciliation Pieces of information considered (for matching operations + to be reconciled) 1. Telephone numbers 2. Operator’s name, date of birth & gender 3. Address, municipality & postal code 4. Farm name & corporation name 5. address & Fax number

13 Pre-reconciliation Resolve missing info + Correct inconsistencies: Increase linkage + Verify quality of links + Fix scanning errors: CEAGSmith JohnOttawaK1H 3W POPJohn HSmith3 Scott StreetOttawaK1H 3M First NameLast NameDate of birthPhone Number CEAGJohm WilliamSmith YES FRJohn WSmith YES POPSmlmJolhx ??? CEAGJohn HSmith3 Scott StreetOttawaK1H 3M CEAGJohn WilliamSmith YES Same person? YES

14 Pre-reconciliation NamePhone #Birth Year etc Ted Earl Ann Earl … Marco Earl … CEAG farm operators with no link (to FR, Census of Population): Correct errors introduced by Missing Farm Follow-Ups: Names not appearing in home-built DICTIONARY of names were manually examined Before phone callAfter phone call NamePhone #Birth Year etc Marco Earl Ted Earl … … 1937

15 Pre-reconciliation RegionCEAG farm FR farm CEAG Family Name CEAG First Name CEAG Road Name …CEAG Phone Number FR oper ator Census of Pop person SASK2218GregorAnthony J31 Ashley Road SASK36??GregorTony JayRR1 33 Ashley Rd SASK466SteenKenneth239 Dunster SASK5640SteenKen H239 Dunster Rd ALB66??SteenKeneth H7 Red River ?? Farm #1: Kenneth has a partner who lives in Alberta (farm #3); Kenneth’s home address & phone #. Farm #2: Operated by Kenneth alone; is the farm’s phone number. Anthony has a partner who also filled a paper questionnaire, but who was not sure of Anthony’s home address or knew it but put down the farm’s address. => We may have two questionnaires for the same farm. Resolution of farm operators linked to multiple operations:

16 Pre-reconciliation Resolution of farm operators linked to multiple operations: RegionCEAG farm FR farm CEAG Family Name CEAG First Name CEAG Road Name …CEAG Phone Number FR oper ator Census of Pop person SASK2218GregorAnthony J31 Ashley Road SASK36??GregorTony JayRR1 33 Ashley SASK466SteenKenneth239 Dunster SK SASK5640SteenKeneth H239 Dunster Rd SK ALB66??SteenKen7 Red River SK ?? Farm #1: Kenneth’s home address & phone #; Kenneth has a partner X who lives in Alberta (Farm #3) Farm #2: Operated by Kenneth alone; is the farm’s phone number. Farm #3: Questionnaire filled by partner X; 7 Red River is the farm’s address located in Saskatchewan. Kenneth H239 Dunster Rd Kenneth H239 Dunster Rd

17 Pre-reconciliation Last step: resolution of multiple phone numbers: Operator NameCEAGFR (main)FR (alternate)Census of Population John Smith Only two phone numbers are kept per farm operator. The farmer could operate more than one farm! => synchronize the numbers among the farms

18 Pre-reconciliation Tools Record linkage system with interesting tools: LIKENESS, address proxy, etc Automated resolution of suggested links Batching for manual resolution + quality checks Manual work (tool: images, SQL queries, electronic phone book) Manual resolution of links, inconsistencies + quality checks SAS programs MixMatch* Farm NameFirst NameLast NameCivic AddressTown Lost Valley AcresTedEarlRR Gilmor AveRosedale Lest Vahey AcreEdwardEml237 GilmourRosedahe

19 Reconciliation FR – Farm Register CEAG – Pre-reconciled 34,559 farms Automated match Manual searches: Use questionnaire images and links to Census of Population Non-linked CEAG farms are birthed on the Farm Register Combine Reconcile farms first, then operators 194,814 farms Surveyed after May 16, 2006

20 Auto-Combine CEAGFRReconciled John Smith Year (parents) (parents) Auto-Combine Operation not surveyed after 2006 Census => CEAG over FR Add/remove/modify operators on FR Update operator information as follows:

21 Auto-Reconcile Operation surveyed after 2006 Census => FR takes priority Keep existing operators on FR Update administrative information as follows: Auto-Reconcile CEAGFRReconciled John Smith Year (parents) (parents)

22 Summary of Reconciliation Census of Agriculture Farming Operations229,373 Linked to Farm Register 194,814 Automated Reconciliation 94 % Manual Reconciliation 6 % Potential births 34,559 Linked to Farm Register “live” 6 % Auto-birthed 94 %

23 Conclusion Pre-Reconciliation (1) New: first time Major challenges: –Coordination of activities with CEAG processing flow (Match, Unduplication, etc) and management of resources Reconciliation (2) 2006 system was an adapted version of 2001 system Countless benefits from Pre-reconciliation: –links to Census of Population to identify related people, extra phone numbers for surveys, finished earlier, etc => Combine (1) and (2) and make it part of 2011 CEAG processing flow

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