The Regional Accounts for Agriculture release provides a regional breakdown of figures already published at State level in the Output, Input and Income in Agriculture – Final Estimate release. Both publications are prepared using similar methodology and definitions of the accounts items, which are described in the Background Notes of the Output, Input and Income in Agriculture release.
In the absence of the actual regional value data, the values of output and input accounts items at State level are apportioned to each region using a set of appropriate allocators. Derived variables, such as Gross Value Added at basic prices (GVA) or Operating surplus are then calculated separately for each region. For example:
GVA at basic prices = Agricultural output at basic prices – Intermediate consumption
Operating surplus = GVA at basic prices – Compensation of employees
– Fixed capital consumption
+ Other subsidies less taxes on production
The choice of allocator used to distribute State values to the regions varies for each item in the accounts. It is, in general, the factor that mainly determines the value of the item. For example, for cattle output the allocator is the total number of cattle in a region minus the number of dairy cows in that region; for pig and sheep output it is the number of pigs and sheep in December of the reference year; for milk output it is the number of dairy cows multiplied by the average output per cow in the region etc.
Most of the items of intermediate consumption, such as expenditure on fertilisers, crop protection products, energy & lubricants, maintenance & repairs, veterinary expenses and expenditure on other goods and services, are allocated based on the total expenditures in each region as measured by the National Farm Survey which is conducted annually by Teagasc.
Due to the indirect nature of the methodology described above, more reliance should be placed on the changes between years rather than on the absolute value of the figures for any one year.
The regional results presented in this release relate to each region as a whole. Thus, the regional values of the accounts' items, including operating surplus, are not necessarily spread uniformly throughout the region.
The regional classifications in this release are based on the common classification of territorial units for statistics established by the Commission Regulation (EU) No 2066 of 2016 (NUTS - Nomenclature of Territorial Units).
The NUTS 3 regions correspond to the eight Regional Authorities established under the Local Government Act, 1991 (Regional Authorities) (Establishment) Order, 1993, and amended by the Local Government Reform Act 2014. The NUTS 2 regions are groupings of the NUTS 3 regions.
The composition of the regions is set out below:
| Northern & Western NUTS2 Region | Southern NUTS2 Region | Eastern & Midland NUTS2 Region | |||
| NUTS3 | Constituting Counties | NUTS3 | Constituting Counties | NUTS3 | Constituting Counties |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Border | Cavan Donegal Leitrim Monaghan Sligo |
Mid-West | Clare Limerick Tipperary |
Dublin | Dublin City Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown Fingal South Dublin |
| South-East | Carlow Kilkenny Waterford Wexford |
Mid-East | Kildare Louth Meath Wicklow |
||
| West | Galway Mayo Roscommon |
South-West | Cork Kerry |
Midland | Laois Longford Offaly Westmeath |
For further details on NUTS 2 and NUTS 3 structure and classification please refer to the Information Note.
Unless otherwise stated, all references to agricultural output in the text, maps and figures contained in this release relate to agricultural output at basic prices.
Any revisions to previous years’ estimates are made as part of the production process for the Output, Input and Income in Agriculture (OIIA), Final estimate release. When preparing the final estimates for the current year’s release (year T), routine revisions are made to the final estimates for the two previous years also (i.e. years T-1 and T-2). The revisions cycle for the Regional Accounts for Agriculture release is the same as that for the Final estimates OIIA release. Any revisions made to the OIIAs are also made to the Regional Accounts as these two sets of accounts are always based on the same data and reconcile with each other. These revisions to previously published final estimates tend to be minor. For further details on the revisions policy, please refer to the release’s Quality Report.
Individual figures have been rounded independently and therefore the component items may not add to the totals shown or, in the case of percentages, to 100%.
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