Seed Corn Trade Survey

Detailed information for July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2006

Status:

Inactive

Frequency:

Annual

Record number:

3451

The purpose of this survey is to provide information on seed corn sales and to aid in the determination of corn acreage in the different areas of Canada.

Data release - February 16, 2007

Description

Annual data collected from all known wholesale dealers of seed corn are used by the corn seed industry, to calculate market shares and plot market trends as well as to make business decisions.

Reference period: July 1st to June 30

Collection period: October and November

Subjects

  • Agriculture and food (formerly Agriculture)
  • Crops and horticulture

Data sources and methodology

Target population

All known wholesale dealers of corn seed (approximately 20) in Eastern Canada. The list is updated occasionally from industry sources.

Instrument design

The questionnaire was developed by subject matter specialists through consultation with the provinces and industry experts. Questions will be changed, added or removed as the need arises. Required changes are usually identified through such means as subject matter specialist research and changes in market trends.

Sampling

This survey is a census with a cross-sectional design.

This methodology does not apply.

Data sources

Responding to this survey is voluntary.

Data are collected directly from survey respondents.

The survey is mailed out once a year. In the cases of non-response, telephone follow-up is used. Respondents mail the completed survey or use other electronic filing methods.

View the Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s) .

Error detection

Questionnaires are verified manually and by comparison to previous years. Questionable data is verified by telephone follow-up.

Imputation

Imputation is done by averaging data from the firm's previous responses.

Estimation

This methodology type does not apply to this statistical program.

Quality evaluation

Disseminated data are subject to a certain degree of error such as incorrect information from respondents or mistakes introduced during processing. Reasonable efforts are made to ensure such errors are kept within acceptable limits through careful questionnaire design, editing of data for inconsistencies and subsequent follow-up and quality control of manual processing operations.

Data quality is maintained by editing techniques which are very rigorous. Trained professional staff scrutinize the data and as required the company involved is contacted. Consultation with provincial agricultural experts assist in the verification of the estimates collected through the survey.

Disclosure control

Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any information it collects that could identify any person, business, or organization, unless consent has been given by the respondent or as permitted by the Statistics Act. Various confidentiality rules are applied to all data that are released or published to prevent the publication or disclosure of any information deemed confidential. If necessary, data are suppressed to prevent direct or residual disclosure of identifiable data.

In order to prevent any data disclosure, confidentiality analysis is done using the Statistics Canada Generalized Disclosure Control System (G-Confid). G-Confid is used for primary suppression (direct disclosure) as well as for secondary suppression (residual disclosure). Direct disclosure occurs when the value in a tabulation cell is composed of or dominated by few enterprises while residual disclosure occurs when confidential information can be derived indirectly by piecing together information from different sources or data series.

Revisions and seasonal adjustment

This methodology does not apply to this survey.

Data accuracy

While considerable effort is made to ensure high standards throughout all stages of collection and processing, the resulting estimates are inevitably subject to a certain degree of non-sampling error. Examples of non-sampling are coverage error, data response error, non-response error and processing error.

Coverage error can result from incomplete listing and inadequate coverage of the population. It is believed that any coverage error would be temporary and would have a minimal effect on the resulting estimates.

Data response error may be due to questionnaire design, the characteristics of a question, inability or unwillingness of the respondent to provide correct information, misinterpretation of the questions or definitional problems. These errors are controlled through careful questionnaire design and the use of simple concepts and consistency checks. Respondents are well versed in the survey concepts.

Non-response error is related to respondents that may refuse to answer, are unable to respond or are too late in reporting. In these cases, data are imputed. The extent on any imputation error decreases with increases in the response rate and attempts are made to obtain as high a response rate as possible. Final response rate is 90%. Analysts keep in contact with respondents to maintain the high response rate.

Processing error may occur at various stages of processing such as data entry, editing and tabulation. Measures have been taken to minimize these errors. Data entry and edit are performed simultaneously due to the spreadsheet design which allows errors to be seen quickly. Historical ratios aid in eliminating outliers created by data entry. Tabulation is automated to eliminate human error.

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