Mushroom Growers' Survey (MUSH)

Detailed information for 2023

Status:

Active

Frequency:

Annual

Record number:

3411

The purpose of this survey is to provide reliable estimates of Canadian production of mushrooms.

Data release - Scheduled for June 27, 2024

Description

This survey collects data on mushroom growing in Canada. The data are used by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, other government departments and provincial governments as well as producer's organizations for the purpose of analyzing domestic production trends and the varieties of mushrooms grown on different types of farms. Your information may also be used by Statistics Canada for other statistical and research purposes.

Statistical activity

The survey is administered as part of the Integrated Business Statistics Program (IBSP). The IBSP has been designed to integrate approximately 200 separate business surveys into a single master survey program. The IBSP aims at collecting industry and product detail at the provincial level while minimizing overlap between different survey questionnaires. The redesigned business survey questionnaires have a consistent look, structure, and content.

The integrated approach makes reporting easier for firms operating in different industries because they can provide similar information for each branch operation. This way they avoid having to respond to questionnaires that differ for each industry in terms of format, wording and even concepts. The combined results produce more coherent and accurate statistics on the economy.

Reference period: Calendar year

Collection period: Spring

Subjects

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

Data sources and methodology

Target population

The target population is all mushroom growers with area over 100 square feet that meet Statistics Canada's definition of a farm. A farm is defined as an operation that produces at least one agricultural product and will report revenue and/or expenses for that agricultural production to the Canada Revenue Agency. Institutional farms and community farms are excluded from the target population.

The observed population consists of establishments on Statistics Canada's Business Register that represent this target population. This frame of operations is derived using signals of agricultural activities on the latest set of tax declarations. To improve the overall coverage of this frame to the target population, information from additional sources including lists of special operations and survey feedback is used to include establishments which report their fiscal data differently.

Instrument design

The survey questionnaire asks growers to identify the species of mushroom grown, the type of operation and growing medium, growing area, production and value of sales, value of investment including lands, buildings and equipment and number of employees and payroll. Data are collected for both common (Agaricus) and specialty mushrooms.

The questionnaire was developed by subject matter specialists through consultation with the provinces and industry experts. New questions are not pre-tested in the field. However, testing is conducted in-house for flow and consistency. Questions will be changed, added or removed as the need arises. Required changes are usually identified through such means as subject matter specialist research, changes in market trends and field staff debriefing reports.

Sampling

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

Data are collected for all units of the target population, therefore, no sampling is done.

Data sources

Data collection for this reference period: 2024-03-13 to 2024-04-26

Responding to this survey is mandatory.

Data are collected directly from survey respondents.

Data are collected annually using an e-mail invitation to open, complete and submit an electronic questionnaire. If the questionnaire is not completed on-line by the deadline, the respondent will be contacted for a scheduled telephone interview.

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

Error detection

With the electronic questionnaire (EQ) and the Computer Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI) system, it is possible to implement edit procedures at the time of survey completion. Computer programmed edit checks in the EQ and CATI systems report possible data errors, which can then be corrected immediately by the respondent and/or the interviewer.

Micro data are edited for accuracy, consistency and completeness upon return. Significant data inconsistencies are followed-up and verified by telephone.

Imputation

When non-response occurs, when respondents do not completely answer the questionnaire, or when reported data are considered incorrect during the error detection steps, imputation is used to fill in the missing information and modify the incorrect information. Many methods of imputation may be used to complete a questionnaire, including manual changes made by an analyst. The automated, statistical techniques used to impute the missing data include: deterministic imputation, replacement using historical data, mean imputation, replacement using auxiliary information available from other sources.

Estimation

The estimates are then inflated to account for the take-none stratum from which no sample is selected. The contribution of this stratum is estimated based upon a model that considers the estimated percentage of the total production included in the take-none stratum population and the overall amount of production reported by the survey respondents.

Quality evaluation

Data verification and analysis of the top contributors and historical comparisons are performed before a final estimate is disseminated. Different sources of information are used to validate provincial estimations. No other surveys are available to compare directly with these survey results. Area under cultivation is compared quinquennially to the Census of Agriculture.

Disclosure control

Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any information it collects which 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.

Revisions and seasonal adjustment

This methodology does not apply to this survey program.

Data accuracy

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.

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