The Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) has been collecting economic data from agricultural holdings for decades. Due to the reorientation of EU agricultural policy with a focus on greater sustainability, the FADN is to be expanded into an information network on agricultural sustainability (FSDN). The European Commission is therefore proposing an amendment to the FADN basic regulation. This should also enable the collection of data to underpin and monitor the objectives of the Green Deal, the Farm to Fork Strategy and the Biodiversity Strategy. In the future, in addition to the microeconomic farm data already collected, sustainability data will also be collected to provide information on social and environmental sustainability.
Objective
- To assess the feasibility of collecting farm-level data for a range of sustainability topics, e.g. Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) objectives, Farm to Fork (F2F) and biodiversity strategies, and other sustainability indicators.
- Description of a methodological approach for the efficient and effective collection of data at farm level for the above-mentioned topics.
- Development of possible strategies to implement a common and harmonized methodology for the collection of sustainability data for all Member States, including a roadmap for the transformation of the current FADN into the FSDN.
Work carried out
As part of the pilot project "Converting Farm Accountancy Data Network (FAD) into Farm Sustainability Data Network (FSDN)", the questionnaire sent out by ECORYS (contractor of the EU Commission) for the "Liaison Office" for Austria was answered in 2022 in cooperation with Department II/1 (Otto Hofer) and the LBG (Franz Fensl). On the other hand, in consultation with the LBG, interviews were conducted with 32 pilot farms in accordance with the selection plan submitted by ECORYS.In the second phase (year 2023), questions regarding the IT infrastructure and the current implementation of data collection for FADN in Austria were answered (questionnaire from ECORYS). There was also participation in the final conference at which the most important results were presented. In addition, the BAB is involved in responding to inquiries and is involved in the preparation of statements on the subject of "FSDN".
Planned work 2024
At a FADN Committee Meeting of the EC in October 2023, a follow-up project on the standardized identification of agricultural enterprises and the resulting possible linking of data from different data sources (IFS, FADN, IACS) was approved.
In coordination with the BML, the BAB will participate as required in the follow-up project and in answering any questions and drafting statements on the expansion of the FADN to include sustainability data.
The duration of the above-mentioned project will therefore be extended until the end of 2025.
Timetable
Project start: 01/2022
Project end: 03/2025
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