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 (FADN) into Farm Sustainability Data Network (FSDN)’, the questionnaire sent out by ECORYS (contractor of the EU Commission) for Austria was answered in 2022 in cooperation with Department II/1 and the LBG. On the other hand, in consultation with the LBG, interviews were conducted with 32 pilot companies in accordance with the selection plan submitted by ECORYS.
The BAB supported the response to enquiries and contributed to the preparation of statements on the subject of ‘FSDN’. Analyses of the agricultural structure surveys were presented as part of a study visit by the European Commission.
The AOD also took part in the regular committee meetings on FSDN.
Coordination meetings were held with the BML and the LBG on the collection of sustainability indicators for sustainability. Once the EC implementing regulation was available in autumn 2024, work began on collecting indicators from databases that were already available.
Planned work 2025
The collection of sustainability indicators from various databases will continue and work on the results file will continue in coordination with the LBG and other organisations.
The deadlines for submitting the sustainability indicators were divided up in the implementation plan. Some of the indicators are to be delivered to the European Commission as early as the 2025 evaluation year (delivery in autumn 2026), while the deadline for the remaining indicators is autumn 2028 (2027 evaluation year).
The project will therefore be extended until June 2028. After that, regular data deliveries and any necessary adjustments will continue to be managed as part of the project ‘Preparation of the basis for the Green Report and the FADN and their further scientific development’ (BAB 011/05).
Timetable
Project start: 01/2022
Project end: 03/2028
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