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

FRFarm Register

5

May 16, 2006 May 16, 2006

CEAG – Census

Overview

Missing known operations?

(Match – Follow-Ups – Unduplication)

FR – SnapshotFR – Farm Register

6

FR – Farm Register

May 16, 2006

Overview

=> Reconciliation

May 16, 2006

CEAG – Census FR – Snapshot

Pre-reconciled

7

CEAG

Different collection methods => different sources of errors

Method Farms (%) Specific Source of Error

Paper 80 % Handwriting affecting scan

Computer Assisted Telephone Interview

15 % Typos, phonetics

Internet 5 % Typos

Aside from response errors...

8

Coverage & Pre-reconciliation

May 16, 2006 May 16, 2006

CEAG – Census FR – SnapshotPrior to 2006 Census:

•Link to Snapshot only:

no reconciliation of administrative info

•Census coveragePre-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. E-mail address & Fax number

13

Pre-reconciliation

Resolve missing info + Correct inconsistencies:

Increase linkage + Verify quality of links + Fix scanning errors:

CEAG Smith John Ottawa K1H 3W6 619-742-2552

POP John H Smith 3 Scott Street Ottawa K1H 3M6 613-742-2552

First Name Last Name Date of birth Phone Number

CEAG Johm William Smith 28-10-1962 613-745-1908 YES

FR John W Smith 00-00-1963 819-745-1908 YES

POP Smlm Jolhx 25-10-1963 613-775-7908 ???

CEAG John H Smith 3 Scott Street Ottawa K1H 3M6 613-742-2552

CEAG John William Smith 25-10-1963 613-745-1908 YES

Same person?

YES

14

Pre-reconciliation

Name Phone # Birth Year

etc

Ted Earl 204-382-2410 1937 ...

Ann Earl 204-382-2410 1941 …

Marco Earl 204-382-2218 1962 …

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 call After phone call

Name Phone # Birth Year

etc

Marco Earl 204-382-2422 1962 ...

Ted Earl 204-382-2410 1941 …

…

1937

15

Pre-reconciliation

Region CEAG farm

FR farm

CEAG Family Name

CEAG First Name

CEAG

Road Name

… CEAG Phone Number

FR operator

Census of Pop person

SASK 22 18 Gregor Anthony J 31 Ashley Road 773-4023 410 526

SASK 36 ?? Gregor Tony Jay RR1 33 Ashley Rd 773-4023 410 526

SASK 46 6 Steen Kenneth 239 Dunster 782-1011 122 303

SASK 56 40 Steen Ken H 239 Dunster Rd 782-2622 122 303

ALB 66 ?? Steen Keneth H 7 Red River 782-1011 ?? 303

1

2

3

Farm #1: Kenneth has a partner who lives in Alberta (farm #3); Kenneth’s home address & phone #.

Farm #2: Operated by Kenneth alone; 782-2622 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:

Region CEAG farm

FR farm

CEAG Family Name

CEAG First Name

CEAG

Road Name

… CEAG Phone Number

FR operator

Census of Pop person

SASK 22 18 Gregor Anthony J 31 Ashley Road 773-4023 410 526

SASK 36 ?? Gregor Tony Jay RR1 33 Ashley 773-4023 410 526

SASK 46 6 Steen Kenneth 239 Dunster SK 782-1011 122 303

SASK 56 40 Steen Keneth H 239 Dunster Rd SK 782-2622 122 303

ALB 66 ?? Steen Ken 7 Red River SK 782-1011 ?? 303

1

2

3

Farm #1: Kenneth’s home address & phone #; Kenneth has a partner X who lives in Alberta (Farm #3)

Farm #2: Operated by Kenneth alone; 782-2622 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 H 239 Dunster Rd

Kenneth H 239 Dunster Rd

17

Pre-reconciliation

Last step: resolution of multiple phone numbers:

Operator Name CEAG FR (main) FR (alternate) Census of Population

John Smith 204-732-5450 204-732-2479 306-325-7409 306-325-7409

• 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 Name First Name Last Name Civic Address Town

Lost Valley Acres Ted Earl RR 3 237 Gilmor Ave Rosedale

Lest Vahey Acre Edward Eml 237 Gilmour Rosedahe

19

Reconciliation

FR – Farm RegisterCEAG – 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

CEAG FR Reconciled

John Smith

John Smith

John Smith

Year 1976 Year 1976

798-1412 798-0656 798-1412

971-6762

(parents)

971-6762

(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

CEAG FR Reconciled

John Smith

John Smith

John Smith

Year 1976 Year 1976

798-1412 798-0656 798-0656

971-6762

(parents)

971-6762

(parents)

22

Summary of Reconciliation

Census of Agriculture Farming Operations 229,373

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

Pour plus d’information, veuillez contacter

For more Information please contact

Visit our web site atwww.statcan.ca

Martin Lachance

(613) 951-4899

Martin2.Lachance@statcan.ca