Part Two: Ground Truthing
Currently there is no dedicated, nationally complete and accessible data frame suitable for ensuring the inclusion of all lifestyle or smallholder block owners in any future agriculture census. However, certain non-specific national registries could assist the identification of lifestyle block owners. These are:
- The Title Estate dataset, which is part of the Core Record System, maintained by Land Information New Zealand (LINZ).
- The Valuation Roll, which is a database of ratepayers, held by Quotable Value (QV).
- AgriBase, a database of primary producers maintained by AgriQuality Limited.
This study was aimed at investigating the completeness and accuracy of these databases, and assessing their usefulness as a potential frame of rural lifestyle block owners.
Methods
We selected three areas within New Zealand, each comprising 10-20 km2, containing a high proportion of smallholders (0.4-35 ha) and within easy driving reach for the authors. We printed a large-scale field map of each area, depicting an aerial ortho-photo, roads and all candidate land parcels extracted from the LINZ parcel layer. Each area was visited over a 2-3 day period, and we attempted to contact the occupier or user of each land parcel within the designated size range in order to record names and land use.
The findings from the field visits were compared to the data held in AgriBase, the Valuation Roll and the Title Estate table in the LINZ CRS.
For each database we computed the number and percentage of land parcels that were linked to smallholdings (i.e. recorded as part of the smallholdings). Where linkages were present, the number and percentage of records that had the correct owner or occupier name and, in the case of the Valuation Roll and AgriBase, had a similar land use to that observed in the field, was calculated.
Where an owner or occupier name was not discovered, but the LINZ Title Estate data was linked to the land parcel and a Title Estate name was present, we used the latter as the definitive name.
Results
Lincoln area 1 (see Figure 9) yielded information on 95 land parcels within the size range of 0.4-35 ha. The name(s) of the current landowner or occupier was obtained for 22 of the blocks, and information on the current land use was obtained for 92 of the land parcels.
Lincoln area 2 (Figure 10) contained 239 parcels within the designated size range. However, owner contact was made only for 20 of these, so that our analysis compared the databases to these 20.
Newbury, just outside Palmerston North (Figure 11), had 239 parcels between 0.4-35 ha. Useful information was obtained on all of these parcels.
Numbers of parcels for which ground-truthing we obtained information, and the linkage and correctness figures for each of the three study areas are summarised in Table 2.
Figure 9: Lincoln Study Area 1
Figure 10: Lincoln Study Area 2
Figure 11: Newbury Study Area
Table 2: Number of parcels investigated, linkage and correctness rates for AgriBase, Valuation Roll and LINZ Title Estate data
| Study Area |
On-ground |
AgriBase |
Valuation Roll |
LINZ Titles |
|||||||
| Parcels used |
Names recorded |
Land use recorded |
Linked | Correct name |
Correct type |
Linked | Correct name |
Correct type |
Linked | Correct name |
|
| Lincoln 1 | 95 | 22 | 92 | 45 (47.4%) |
40 (88.9%) |
43 (95.6%) |
87 (91.6%) |
50 (50.7%) |
60 (69%) |
95 (100%) |
91 (95.8%) |
| Lincoln 2 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 13 (65%) |
12 (92.3%) |
11 (84.6%) |
20 (100%) |
12 (70%) |
14 (70%) |
20 (100%) |
18 (90%) |
| Newbury | 239 | 237 | 239 | 178 (74.5%) |
159 (89.3%) |
162 (91%) |
210 (91.6%) |
175 (79.9%) |
158 (72.1%) |
209 (87.4%) |
179 (85.6%) |
Contact for Enquiries
Monitoring and Evaluation
Innovation and Research Policy Directorate
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
Email: stats_info@maf.govt.nz
Phone: 64 4 894 0100
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