PURPOSE: to ensure the systematic production of European statistics on agricultural holdings in the Union in order to guarantee consistency and comparability at EU level.

LEGISLATIVE ACT: Regulation (EU) 2018/1091 of the European Parliament and of the Council on integrated farm statistics and repealing Regulations (EC) No 1166/2008 and (EU) No 1337/2011).

CONTENT: the new Regulation establishes a framework for European statistics at the level of agricultural holdings and provides for the integration of information on the structure with that on production methods, rural development measures, agro-environmental aspects and other related information.

The Regulation addresses the weaknesses identified in the evaluation of the European Agricultural Statistics System (EASS) by simplifying and modernising the collection of statistics within a single framework and allowing more flexibility for the rapid introduction of new data collections.

The Regulation urged the modernisation of data collection modes on agricultural holdings insofar as possible and the use of digital solutions in that regard should be promoted.

The collection of statistical data, in particular concerning the structure of farms, should aim, amongst other objectives, to inform the decision-making process with updated data with a view to future Common Agricultural Policy reforms.

Member States shall collect and provide the core structural data (‘core data’) for the reference years 2020, 2023 and 2026 , as listed in Annex III. The core data collection for the reference year 2020 shall be carried out as a census .

The core data collections for the reference years 2023 and 2026 may be carried out on samples .

In that case, Member States shall ensure that the weighted results are statistically representative of agricultural holdings within each region and are designed to meet the precision requirements set out in Annex V.

The Regulation provides for the possibility for Member States in which the periods of fieldwork for the survey reference year 2020 overlap with the work planned for the 10-year population census to bring the farming survey forward a year so as to avoid the heavy burden of conducting two major data collections at the same time.

The data required by the proposed Regulation shall cover 98 % of the total utilised agricultural area (excluding kitchen gardens) and 98 % of the livestock units of each Member State. The agricultural holdings below those thresholds are so small that a sample data collection to be carried out once per decade is sufficient to allow the estimation of their structure and the impact on production.

Financial envelope : the Union financial envelope for the implementation of the programme of data collections for the reference year 2020, including the appropriations necessary for the management, maintenance and development of the database systems used within the Commission to process the data supplied by the Member States under this Regulation, shall be EUR 40 million for the period 2018-2020, covered by the MFF 2014-2020.

The Commission may adopt delegated acts in order to take into account emerging data needs mainly stemming from recent developments in agriculture, revised legislation and changing policy priorities.

ENTRY INTO FORCE: 27.8.2018. Regulation (EU) No 1337/2011 is repealed with effect from 1 January 2022. Regulation (EC) No 1166/2008 is repealed with effect from 1 January 2019.

The European Parliament adopted by 562 votes to 49, with 74 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on integrated farm statistics and repealing Regulations (EC) No 1166/2008 and (EU) No 1337/2011.

The European Parliament’s position, adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure, amended the Commission proposal as follows:

Objectives : this Regulation shall establish a framework for European statistics at the level of agricultural holdings and provides for the integration of information on the structure with that on production methods, rural development measures, agro-environmental aspects and other related information.

According to the amended text, the collection of statistical data, in particular concerning the structure of farms, should aim, amongst other objectives, to inform the decision-making process with updated data with a view to future Common Agricultural Policy reforms.

A knowledge base is also required to assess the impact of policies on the female workforce on agricultural holdings.

Coverage : the data required by the proposed Regulation shall cover 98 % of the total utilised agricultural area (excluding kitchen gardens) and 98 % of the livestock units of each Member State.

The amended text stressed that in some Member States the thresholds listed in this Regulation are too high. However, the agricultural holdings below those thresholds are so small that a sample data collection to be carried out once per decade is sufficient to allow the estimation of their structure and the impact on production, resulting in the reduction of costs and burdens while still enabling the design of effective policy action to support and maintain small farming structures.

Among other things, the amendments stressed the following points:

the need to receive information about the affiliation of an agricultural holding to a group of enterprises , the entities of which are controlled by a parent entity the modernisation of data collection modes on agricultural holdings insofar as possible and the use of digital solutions in that regard should be promoted; the possibility for Member States in which the periods of fieldwork for the survey reference year 2020 overlap with the work planned for the 10-year population census to bring the farming survey forward a year so as to avoid the heavy burden of conducting two major data collections at the same time; the potential to reduce the response burden and costs further reduced by reusing data from the year directly preceding or following the reference year . This would be particularly relevant for aspects where no large changes are expected from one year to the next; flexibility and reduction of burden on respondents, NSIs and other national authorities , by allowing Member States to use statistical surveys, administrative records and any other innovative sources, methods or approaches, including scientifically based and well documented methods such as imputation, estimation and modelling; the need to take into account aspects such as cost and administrative burdens on agricultural holdings and Member States when the Commission exercises its delegated power; the importance of making online access to official statistics as easy and user-friendly as possible.

Report from the Commission : by 31 December 2024, the Commission shall submit a report on the implementation and achievement of the objectives of this Regulation.

Economic aspects of this Regulation should be reviewed for the period post-2020 taking into account the new multiannual financial framework and other relevant changes to Union instruments. Based on that review, the Commission shall consider proposing relevant changes to this Regulation.

The Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development adopted the report by Viorica DĂNCILĂ (S&D, RO) on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on integrated farm statistics and repealing Regulations (EC) No 1166/2008 and (EU) No 1337/2011.

The committee recommended that the European Parliament’s position, adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure, should amend the Commission proposal as follows:

Future CAP reforms : according to Members, the collection of statistical data, in particular the farm structure survey, should aim to inform the decision-making process with updated data with a view to future Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reforms.

The report also stressed the importance of:

ensuring coherence and compatibility of the data and the uniformity of the reporting formats; selecting the content of the data collection in a manner consistent with the aim of devising better targeted and more effective agricultural and rural development measures which take account, as a matter of priority, of the needs of producers and consumers in the Union; making available on the internet ready to use, cross-tabulated comparable data from all Member States including gender-specific information , among other aspects.

Scope : the data required by the proposed Regulation should cover 98 % of the utilised agricultural area (UAA) (with the exception of vegetable gardens) and 98 % of livestock units of the Member States. When collecting those data, Member States shall not make use of disproportionate measures, such as the introduction of fines , in order to attain the desired degree of representativeness.

Central structural data : Members said that annual application data, as verified by the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS), should also be considered as a source of data.

Data concerning aid payments under the CAP : Members considered that data concerning aid payments under the CAP constitute a valid source of statistics. The Member States, through the bodies which manage payments from the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), shall compile from the documents dealing with the granting of direct aid the administrative information needed to properly assess the effectiveness of the instruments employed and provide a basis for future policy decisions.

Ad hoc data : the Commission shall adopt delegated acts (instead of implementing acts) to specify the information to be provided on an ad hoc basis, if deemed necessary. While preparing such delegated acts, potential extra costs and administrative burdens on agricultural holdings and Member States shall be taken in to account.

Quality and data transmission : the Commission shall ensure adherence to the same quality and transparency standards in the collation and publication of those statistical data. The collated data and statistics shall be published and made available in a transparent manner both for policy makers and for members of the public.

Derogation concerning Greece, Spain and Portugal : Members stated that derogation references to the survey reference year 2020 shall be read as the survey reference year 2019 in relation to Greece, Spain and Portugal.

Farm safety : Members emphasised the need for accurate information on the causes of farm accidents and the extent of risk taking on farms in order to implement policies to tackle this issue which have a very high social and economic cost.

Revision : Members stressed that the economic aspects of the Regulation should be reviewed for the period post-2020 taking into account the new Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and other relevant changes to Union instruments. Based on that review the Commission should propose relevant changes to this Regulation.

PURPOSE: to ensure the systematic production of European statistics on agricultural holdings in the Union in order to guarantee consistency and comparability at EU level.

PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council.

ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and on an equal footing with the Council.

BACKGROUND: an evaluation of the European Agricultural Statistics System (EASS) concluded that even if the main users of agricultural statistics are quite satisfied with the level of detail and quality of the agricultural statistics, they are not content with the lack of data on specific items (supply balance sheets, land prices and rents, nutrient flows, data related to environment, and others), and that the system is too rigid, not allowing the rapid introduction of new data collections.

Three main factors underlying the problems being faced in the area of the EASS :

new and emerging data needs such as changes in world agriculture such as globalisation and climate change and consequent changes in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) not adequately served; data collections not sufficiently harmonised and coherent; burden of providing data perceived as too high.

Agricultural statistics used at the Union level are taken from a variety of sources : statistical surveys, administrative data, data from farms and other businesses, as well as farm level data in the form of an agricultural census and samples. The current proposal relates to that last source of agricultural statistics data.

This initiative is part of the regulatory fitness and performance programme (REFIT) and is the first step of the Strategy for Agricultural Statistics 2020 and beyond, that aims at streamlining the EASS as a whole and to render the data collection process more efficient and relevant.

IMPACT ASSESSMENT: the preferred option is a two-step integration of agricultural statistics which would safeguard the continuation and modernisation of structural statistics on agriculture. Two new framework regulations would be introduced stepwise: an integrated farm statistics (IFS) regulation and another framework regulation on statistics on agricultural input and output (SAIO).

CONTENT: the proposed Regulation aims to establish a framework for European agricultural statistics at farm level and to provide for integration of the structural information with other information, such as production methods, rural development measures, agro environmental aspects and others.

Data collection : for the purpose of obtaining the data referred to in this Regulation, Member States shall carry out statistical surveys. The proposal allows and promotes the use of new forms of data collection and alternative data sources including administrative data and other sources.

The core data collection for the survey reference year 2020 shall be carried out as a census . The core data collections for the survey reference years 2023 and 2026 may be carried out as sample surveys .

The data must be transmitted within predefined deadlines.

Delegated acts and implementing powers : the Regulation proposed to empower the Commission to adopt delegated acts to amend the core characteristics listed in Annex III (Core data: Information to be provided), and the detailed topics for the modules listed in Annex IV in order to adapt the data collected to future users’ needs; and to meet specific user requirements in ad-hoc surveys.

The Commission should also be empowered to adopt implementing measures on the technical specifications required for the data sets and the quality reporting.

Financial support : the draft regulation includes the provisions for financial support to the Member States for:

complying with data requirements and developing methodologies aiming at higher quality or lower costs, or both, and the administrative burden of collecting and producing integrated farm statistics; the cost of data collections; the collection of ad-hoc data.

Repeal : Regulation (EU) No 1337/2011 shall be repealed with effect from 1 January 2022 and Regulation (EC) No 1166/2008 shall be repealed with effect from 1 January 2019.

BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS: the proposal has a financial impact for the years 2019 to 2020 (with possible financial impact extended up to 2028 depending on the next MFF). The total appropriations under the current MFF are estimated at EUR 40 million .

DELEGATED ACTS: the proposal contains provisions empowering the Commission to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.