The first agricultural census of the re-independent Estonia will be conducted on 15–29 July 2001. The last agricultural census in Estonia was in 1939, the next will be on the basis of the recommendations of the FAO and in accordance with the practice of developed countries presumably in 2010–2011. The need for conducting the agricultural census in Estonia at the turn of the century results from the main trends of the development of the statistical system in Estonia approved by the Government of the Republic on 10 September 1996 (protocol No 61), the Regulation No 229 of the Government of the