Agricultural holdings: conversion of the Farm Accountancy Data Network into a Farm Sustainability Data Network

• FSDN will be a very welcome change to make and evaluate the impacts of evidence-based policy more comprehensively (by all three sustainability aspects: economic, environmental and social) and more rationally (cost- and content-wise synergies, etc.). • The privacy of individual data must remain, like in FADN, a top priority.

BirdLife Europe welcomes European Commission’s intention to transform Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) into a Farm Sustainability Data Network (FSDN) and enhance data collection by adding environmental and social data at farm level. We also welcome the intentions to allow interoperability with other databases.

The EEB welcomes the opportunity to give feedback to the Commission’s proposal to convert the Farm Accountancy Data Network into a Farm Sustainability Data Network to collect additional environmental and social data at farm level. We would like to comment on three important themes which are touched upon in the proposed legislative amendment: interoperability, data collection and variables.

IFOAM Organics Europe welcomes the Commission’s proposal to review the FADN Regulation to transform it into a FSDN. Economic data collected at farm-level needs to be completed with data on the environmental and social components of farms, whether for policy monitoring and evaluation or for research.

AGROMIX’s response to the EC “Have your say call” on FSDN regulation The AGROMIX Consortium welcomes the new Council Regulation (EC) No 1217/2009 as regards conversion of the Farm Accountancy Data Network into a Farm Sustainability Data Network.

The European Agroforestry Federation (EURAF) represents affiliated organisations in 20 Member States and 5 additonal European countries. We fully support the move to widen the FADN to the FSDN, and suggest that more information is needed on the a) the role of Trees ouside the Forest in European farming and b) the use of farm forests for animal grazing and shelter.

Danish Agriculture & Food Council (DAFC) consider data collection in the framework of FADN as being essential for assessing the economic situation of EU farms and for monitoring and evaluating the impact of policies and measures implemented. For this, a harmonized framework, comparable, timely and reliable data is key. DAFC recommends keeping the economic dimension as a predominant feature of FSDN.

As the German Farmers’ Association, we are deeply concerned about the continued existence of the national testing network, which performs a wide range of functions within the objectives of the Agriculture Act, including support policy, advice and training, and policy advice.

Filed in German · English published by the European Commission

Green REV Institute, the operator of the first coalition in Poland for the transformation of the food system Future Food 4 Climate, thanks for the opportunity to express its views on the transformation of the FADN system into a FSDN data network that will enable the objectives of the European Green Deal and the Farm to Fork Strategy to be met.

Filed in Polish · English published by the European Commission

It should be explicitly specified that environmental data should also include data on telecommunication masts near farms. Information on all wireless technologies used on or near farms should be included. Many scientists see HF-EMF as an environmental noxe and call for monitoring. There are many well-performed animal studies which clearly demonstrate the adverse effects of HF-EMF on animals.

Filed in German · English published by the European Commission

The citizens’ association Elektrosmog and Health welcomes this initiative as we believe in better monitoring of the polluters of the animal environment. Radio Frequency Electromagnetic Fields (RF EMPs) are also considered to be such pollution. We therefore ask for this parameter to be included in the data collected.

Filed in Slovak · English published by the European Commission

A data network is set being up to collect economic, environmental and social data at farm level. We "Europeans for Safe Connections" strongly suggest that it be explicitly stated that data on the environment should include data on telecommunication masts near farms. In addition, all information about all wireless technologies used on or near farms should be included.

The Austrian Chamber of Agriculture supports the basic idea behind the further development of the Farm Accountancy Data Network to create a solid and comparable data base across the EU for the presentation, communication and further development of the performance of the CAP. The possibility of providing financial incentives for participating farms to compensate them for their expenses is particularly positive.

Filed in German · English published by the European Commission

We think measuring the climate footprint should be number one, that is a top priority for us as a Food & Agri Bank and for the legislator. in addition, soil health, water quality and then biodiversity. It is desirable that the sustainability performance required by different customers/govenrments/stakeholders is measured in the same way, in order to enable links between sustainability performance and multiple forms…

Agroecology Europe’s comments on the Roadmap on the Conversion of the FADN to a Farm Sustainability Data Network (FSDN) Agroecology Europe, 2 July 2021 Agroecology Europe welcomes the Commission's initiative to set up a multidimensional, harmonized FSDN (Farm Sustainability Data Network) data collection system across the EU.

Fertilizers Europe appreciates the opportunity to provide an opinion on the above-mentioned initiative and welcomes the Commission the proposal for the conversion of the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) into a Farm Sustainability Data Network (FSDN). The FADN is a cornerstone for the appraisal of the success of the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP).

Traditional methods of Farming, is the best, the safest. Promotion of modern methods such as Genetically Engineering etc. is simply attracting a curse on our crop, our land, on ourselves. Heirloom crop, companion planting was always a success till the DNA of plant species have been engineered. It all depends on the actual agenda, wherher disclosed or undercover.

PAN Europe thanks for the opportunity to comment on the roadmap proposing to convert the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) into the Farm Sustainability Data Network (FSDN). PAN Europe welcomes the recognition that the overall aim of the FADN is to address the needs of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and that it therefore need to envisage that environmental and social dimensions are being taken into account…

DSM welcomes the effort to collect additional information for a fact-based analysis of the sustainability performance of European farming systems and to enable monitoring of progress to happen. To secure the possible use of the data collected for GHG emissions modelling, it would matter to capture, in the future FSDN, farming parameters which are known to influence GHG emissions.

SPRINT H2020 project is assessing the environmental and health impacts of pesticide use, and developing transition pathways towards reduced use and risk of pesticides in line with Farm to Fork Strategy targets. Ecologic Institute is submitting this feedback on behalf of partners in SPRINT project. Socio-economic analyses are an essential part of developing transition pathways.

SUEZ welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the roadmap consultation on the conversion of the Farm Accountancy Data Network. In order to feed an ever-expanding world population and face the decline in the availability of natural resources, it is inevitable to make a sustainable agricultural transition.

IFOAM Organics Europe welcomes the Commission’s initiative to review the FADN Regulation to transform it into a FSDN. Economic data collected at farm-level needs to be completed with data on the environmental and social components of farms, whether for policy monitoring and evaluation or for research.

Yara International would like to thank the EU Commission for the opportunity to contribute to the preparation of the conversion of the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) into a Farm Sustainability Data Network (FSDN).. We welcome this conversion step. Only if measurements are enabled, improvements can be tracked and farmers can be rewarded for the additional efforts they implement.

Department of Agriculture and Fisheries Flanders supports the initiative to transform FADN into FSDN. We are in favour of linking relevant environmental indicators to the current economic and technical indicators. We also support the principle of re-use of data, but we believe that these links between the differences between the data sources are better done by the Member States.

Filed in Dutch · English published by the European Commission

The present initiative seems to be useful. In addition to absolute figures, it is desirable to publish relative figures as they also provide important information. The new figures to be asked may relate to: • Energy use • Water consumption • Plant protection products • Animal manure • acidifying emissions (NH3, NOx and SO2) • greenhouse gas emissions • Ammonia emission • Primary particulate matter (total, PM10 and…

Filed in Dutch · English published by the European Commission

Wageningen Economic Research supports the Commission proposal for the conversion of the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) into a Farm Sustainability Data Network (FSDN). Given the increasing societal demands, the broadening set of objectives of the CAP, and the continued importance of evidence based policy making it is crucial to update FADN to include more indicators on the environmental and social performance…

In principle, we welcome the availability of other indicators/parameters on environmental and social issues in addition to economic indicators in the context of FADN. Based on a sample of individual farms on which much information is available, targeted agricultural policy actions at national and European level can be identified and evaluated.

Filed in German · English published by the European Commission

The conversion of the FADN to FSDN is a very positive and needed development. The experience gathered historically in the collection of standardised accounting data and horizontal data analyses already carried out will allow us to better assess the sustainability of the farming practices in Europe.

The FADN has been a very interesting and useful resource during past EU research projects. Regarding the conversion to a "Farm Sustainability Data Network" (FSDN) this would be an excellent development to the database. For this, we would need to have physical data on the inputs provided to the farm.

To all the excellent feedback and suggestions I would like to add the following: • It is important to identify existing bottlenecks in each Member State in connecting FADN with other already existent databases for the farms.

Teagasc (Ireland’s Agriculture and Food Development Authority) welcomes the Commission proposal for the conversion of the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) into a Farm Sustainability Data Network (FSDN). It has been clear for some time that a wider suite of farm level data relating to agriculture is required to measure the economic, social and environmental sustainability of agriculture.

Copa and Cogeca contribution to the public consultation on the Roadmap regarding the Conversion of FADN to a Farm Sustainability Data Network (FSDN) (max. 4000 characters) The conversion of the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) into a Farm Sustainable Data Network (FSDN) is among the initiatives of the Farm to Fork Strategy.

Bayer comments on the Roadmap on the Conversion of the FADN to a Farm Sustainability Data Network (FSDN) Bayer Crop Science, 30 June 2021 Bayer Crop Science welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Roadmap on the conversion of the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) into a Farm Sustainability Data Network (FSDN).

H2020 project BESTMAP (Behavioural, Ecological and Socio-Economic Tools for Modelling Agriculture Policy, grant agreement No 817501) is developing a new framework integrating farmers’ behaviour and biophysical modelling to improve policy modelling in the European Union. BESTMAP has had a request approved for FADN data, which we will use in upscaling agent-based models from our case studies to an EU scale.

IBMA, the International Biocontrol Manufacturers Association, welcomes this public consultation regarding a crucial matter for the transition to a future more sustainable agriculture using agroecological farming practices, in line with EU objectives.

FADN is well known for more than 60 years. It is recognizable brand. Good position comes from good quality data which are collected, verified and used for monitoring and creation of agricultural policy. Even we have to pay more attention to areas like social issues, environment, fertilizers and crop protection usage still most of data will come from accountancy.

BASF Feedback to the Commission Inception Impact Assessment on the creation of a Farm Sustainability Data Network BASF Agricultural Solutions welcomes the initiative to transform the existing Farm Accountancy Data Network into a more comprehensive tool that would cover all three pillars of sustainable development: economic, social and environmental.

FADN has been and is an important tool in assessing the economic and financial situation of European farmers, which still lags 53% behind the wages/loans of EU economic average. If the FSDN as follow-up of the FADN has the aim to address the F2F targets it is of utmost importance that those targets have to undergo a comprehensive impact assessment regarding its impact on food security as well as the economic…

The European Commission’s decision to transform FADN into FSDN is an important opportunity to improve and broaden the usefulness of the survey, to respond more effectively to FADN’s original needs, to provide a broader and more relevant information framework for the world of evaluators of EU agricultural policies and to the diverse agricultural research system.

Filed in Italian · English published by the European Commission

We welcome the arrival of digitalisation, see great progress in this process. When collecting data, there is a strong database that will provide feedback on the formulation and routing of the “CAP”. At the same time, however, we consider this transition to be slow, as the current legislation at the level of the Slovak Member State is not flexible.

Filed in Slovak · English published by the European Commission

Certainly, the part relating to the assembly of data is crucial and creating a network would be the achievement of a fundamental result. As we know, the use of shapefiles, also called ESRI shapefiles, is a vector format which is mainly used in geographic information systems (GIS) and this system has been developed by ESRI with the aim of increasing interoperability between ESRI and other GIS systems.

Filed in Italian · English published by the European Commission

I believe that the important part of this Network's data assembly must be the recognition that it must have a Machine Learning (ML) set of modules and it must tie into common GIS format files that are delivered via a strong hybrid software which operates as a transparent decentralised register to assure accuracy of conclusions. That the network has considerations of crossed laws-statutory influences and variations.