EXPLANATIONS

General definitions

Standard output – an indicator used to determine the economic size of the farm. It shows the value of the output of each agricultural statistical indicator in the respective region under average conditions. The value is calculated by multiplying the production unit by the purchase price. Value added tax, product taxes and direct payments are not included.

Economic size classes:

Farm holder (farmer) refers to a physical per­son, a group of physical persons or a legal person in whose name and means the farm (holding) is opera­ting and who is legally and economi­cally responsible for the farm, i.e. assumes eco­no­mic risk for the farm. A farmer can possess the farm (holding) by ownership right, lease it or have the right to use another owner’s farm and make profit from that, be a trustee of the owner of the farm.

Farm centre refers to a place where all or the major part of a farm’s agricultural produce is produced. The following places may be considered to be a farm centre:

• a farm building where animals are kept or another building (structure) used for agricultural production, e.g. a greenhouse, if all or the major part of the farm’s agricultural produce is produced therein;
• the largest area of the farm’s arable land;
• the farmer’s place of residence if it is located no more than 5 km from the place where all or the major part of the farm’s agricultural produce is produced.

Farm manager is a physical person responsible for the organisation of daily production activity on a farm. Usually the farm manager is the farm holder. When a farm holder is not the farm manager, s/he can authorise the spouse or another family member to manage the farm or hire for this purpose another person not related to the family – an administrator, with whom an employment contract is signed and who is paid for his/her work.

Farm work

Farm work is any work related to the production of agri­cultural products and maintenance of their characteristics.

Farm work includes the following: organisation and management (purchase, sale, accounting, etc.); field works (ploughing, mowing, harvesting, etc.); animal breeding (fodder preparation, feeding, milking, animal care, etc.); works related to storing, processing, etc. of primary agri­cul­­­tu­ral products (e.g. sour cream, butter, curd, cheese pro­­duc­tion), preparation for the market (ensilage, packaging, etc.); maintenance works (repair of buildings, machinery, equip­ment, etc.).

Another gainful activity refers to any activity which is not classified under farm work but for which an individual is remunerated. Such an activity may be directly related or not related to the farm.

Temporarily hired worker is a person who was hired by the farm holder to work for a certain period (during potato harvesting, hay cutting, to pick stones, berries, etc.). The total number of days worked by men and women (during the last 12 months) is indicated.

Working time of temporarily hired workers is recalculated to that of permanently hired workers (working the whole day) even if a written or verbal employment contract establishes a working day that is either longer or shorter than in case of permanent employment.

Hired worker is a person working for payment, whether in cash or in kind (i.e. food and non-food products, free accommodation, etc.).

Persons who during the period indicated were working permanently but did not work the entire period due to specific production conditions (e.g. workers in market gardening, horticulture who work only for a certain limited period (short-term seasonal workers are not included)), vacation, military duty, illness, accident, death, etc., beginning or end of em­ployment on the farm (workers who in the last 12 months were working on one farm and then moved to work to another farm), unexpected reasons (flood, fire, etc.) are also included in the group of hired workers.

Persons working on the farm refers to all persons who have been doing farm work in the last 12 months. Data on each person are entered only once, even if the person had several functions on the farm, e.g. a spouse of the farm holder who is together a farm manager.

Soil and manure management practices

Tillage methods on arable land:

• Conventional tillage (deep ploughing) refers to primary tillage with a mouldboard plough and subsequent hoeing of the upper layer of the soil ploughed with a harrow.
• Conservation tillage (no ploughing) refers to tillage method usually means no ploughing, when part (at least 30 per cent) of crop residues are left on the soil surface for erosion control and moisture preserva­tion (e.g. the hoeing of soil without a mouldboard plough or other conservation tillage methods).
• Zero tillage (direct seeding) refers to the insertion of seeds into forecrop stubble without tillage.

Soil cover in winter:

• Normal winter crops refers to arable land area where crops are sown in autumn and stay throughout winter (these are usual crops, such as winter wheat, triticale, barley).
• Cover crops or intermediate crops are crops sown in order to maintain the covered soil surface in winter, thus maintaining its optimal agrophysical and chemical characteristics, preserving nutrients. Cover crops are of almost no economic benefit – they are sown to protect soil and preserve nutrients. They are usually ploughed in during spring, before sowing other crops and are not harvested or used for fodder. However, cover crops is one of the most efficient ways of reducing economic and environmental losses since arable land without cover or containing only crop residues is particularly sensitive to soil erosion and prone to losing nutrients and fertilisers. These crops are not to be mixed up with normal winter crops or meadows.
• Crop residues (stubble etc.) can be straw, stubble or parts of other plants making up good mulch (e.g. sugar beet tops), regardless of whether they remain from the previous harvest or have been brought from elsewhere. Potatoes are excluded because they rot very fast. Tillage operations usually finish in spring. However, certain operations may be carried out in autumn if enough crop residues are left on the soil surface. Straw can be used for energy or other purposes but the indicative threshold for the remaining residue is about 10 per cent.
• Bare soil refers to arable land that is ploughed or otherwise tilled in autumn but is not sown or covered in winter with any crop residue, and it remains bare until spring agricultural works, carried out before or in the process of sowing. Arable land on whose surface tillage methods leave more than 10 per cent of crop residue is recorded under crop residues (stubble etc.).

Manure application techniques:

• Injection is the application of liquid manure or slurry by placement in slots cut into the soil to various depths depending on the type of injector.
• Bandspread is technique than liquid manure or slurry is applied to an area in parallel with no manure between the bands, using a device (band spreader) fixed to the end of a tanker of a tractor to discharge liquid manure or slurry at ground level.
• Broadcast is technique than manure is spread over the surface of an area of land or crop, without the use of bandspread or injection techniques.

Another non-agricultural activity

Aquaculture refers to the artificial growing of fish, molluscs, crustaceans and other organisms in fresh or sea water using farm resources (land, buildings, equipment, etc.).

Crafts refers to the products, handicrafts made by the farmer, his/her family members or hired workers if, in addition to that, they also do farm work, irrespective of the way they are sold.

Renewable energy production (for sale) refers to rene­wable energy produced for sale, including biofuel, biogas or electric power generated by windmills, hydropower plants and other ma­chinery or from raw materials obtained from agricultural activity. Land lease for the construction of rene­wable energy production machinery (e.g. windmills), the sale of raw materials to another farm or enterprise for renewable energy production, renewable energy production only for the farm’s needs are not included.

Rural tourism refers to all tourism activities (accom­mo­­dation services, familiarisation of tourists or other groups with the farm, sports and recreational activities, etc.) if the farm’s area, buildings or other resources are used.

Another farm activity refers to any activity carried out in the rural area and not considered to be agricultural activity, i.e. activity not related to farm work but directly related to the farm and affecting it economically. Activity directly related to the farm is the activity for the performance whereof the re­sources (area, buildings, machinery, etc.) or products of the farm are used. If no other farm resources except for the farm labour force are used, such an activity is not considered to be directly related to the farm.

Production of wood and items of wood refers to the primary processing of raw wood (e.g. cutting of logs, wood). Further processing (e.g. production of furniture) is classified under traditional crafts.

Forestry refers to forestry works using farm labour force, agricultural machinery and equipment.

Processing of products refers to the processing of primary agricultural products into the secondary ones, irrespective of whether raw materials are produced on the farm or purchased elsewhere (e.g. meat processing, cheese production, etc.). Production for own consumption or the sale of the surplus of such products is not included.

Land and land use

Arable land – the part of usable agricultural area under agricultural crops (including greenhouse areas) and fallows.

Other land refers to the area which is not directly used for production but is necessary for the farm’s activity (land under buildings, homestead yards, roads,wetlands, etc.); area not suitable for agricultural production (steep hillsides, cliffs, swamps, marshes, peat bogs, bushy areas, etc.); green areas for recrea­tional purposes (parks, lawns, etc.).

Utilised agricultural land is the area under arable land, cultivated pastures, meadows and natural pastures and perennial crops.

Meadows and pastures refers to areas naturally grown with perennial fodder grasses used or suitable to be used for mowing and grazing. Areas under annual grasses or fallows where livestock are grazed are attributed to arable land, not to pastures. Wooded area where mowing and grazing takes place is not classified under meadows and natural pastures.

Fallow is a field used in a crop rotation system which remains unsown during the whole or the major part of the vegetation period. Usually, it is left to recover for one farming year. Fallow is land without vegetation; land covered with natural vegetation which can be used for fodder or can be ploughed in; land sown with green manure crops. Usually, this field under the crop rotation system is prepared for sowing winter crops.

Areas under pome and stone fruit trees are plots of land planted with apple, pear, plum, cherry, sweet cherry, quince and other pome and stone fruit trees, which occupy the plot for a long period of time and yield fruit for several years. Farms’ parks, plots of land planted with ornamental trees, lawns, parterres are considered to be leisure areas and are not included in this group.

Berry plantations are plots of land planted with black, red and white currant, gooseberries, raspberries, choke­berries, etc.

Total land area is the area of utilised and unutilised agricultural land, wooded area, water and other land.

Agricultural crop area

Agricultural crop area refers to the part of arable land sown or planted with crops to be harvested in the current year.

Agricultural crop area

Arable land

Classes by economic size

Conservation tillage (no ploughing)

Farm holder (farmer)

Farmers’ and family farms

Farms

Livestock unit

Number of employees in full-time units

Renewable energy resources

Standard output

Temporarily hired worker

Utilised agricultural land