BC80 Agricultural activity is often a continuous process, meaning that older plants are continuously removed from service and replaced. The Board noted that, if bearer plants are accounted for using a cost model, this continuous process needs to be made discrete. Consequently, the question arises as to what the unit of measure is - for example, is it the individual plant or some larger aggregation, such as a field or a planting cycle?

BC81 The Board noted that IAS 16 does not prescribe the unit of measure, or the extent to which items can be aggregated and treated as a single item of property, plant and equipment. Consequently, applying the recognition criteria in IAS 16 to bearer plants will require judgement. This would give an entity flexibility, depending on its circumstances, to decide how to aggregate individual plants for the purpose of determining a measurable unit of bearer plants. The Board noted that accounting for an aggregation of plants would be similar to accounting for a large quantity of equipment that is acquired or constructed in batches. For example a company may construct a large number of moulds for use within its business. Some aggregation of the moulds would usually be necessary for determining an item of property, plant and equipment. Consequently, the Board decided that the requirements for the unit of measure in IAS 16 would provide sufficient guidance for bearer plants without modification.