Regionalised AEM on a Farm- Based Activity-Report Data Network

Transcription

1 Federal Department of Economic Affairs FDEA Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon Research Station ART Regionalised AEM on a Farm- Based Activity-Report Data Network Silvio Blaser, Daniel Stutz Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon Research Station ART, Switzerland OECD Workshop: Agri-Environmental Indicators: Lessons Learned and Future Directions 24 March 2010, Leysin, Switzerland

2 Initial Situation FOAG and ART are subject to the Swiss Ordinance relating to the Assessment of Sustainability in Agriculture. - Assessment and documentation of agricultural policy and performance from the point of view of sustainability. - The assessment concerns the economic, ecological and social impacts. Show how: agriculture influences the quality of the environment the environment develops in connection with agricultural practices. Early recognition Setting and reviewing of objectives in connection with measures 3

3 Introduction / Defining the Problem AEM is established on a national level National results are the reflection of the activities of all businesses involved in agriculture Policymakers establish framework conditions with the intention of managing things Actual actors (decision makers): The individual farm managers on the farms! Monitoring should start as early on as possible, ideally when a measure is implemented To allow for as prompt a reaction as possible to new or undesirable developments, the monitoring must apply on the Farm level. 4

4 Comparison of AEM and LCA-FADN Pilot Project LCA-FADN *) AEM Objective Research / Evaluation Decision-making tool for policy-makers Workload for Farmers initially high / average Initially average / low Compensation low average Benefit for Farmers average low No. of Farms Timeline 3 years / project Permanent/ Monitoring Further Development no yes Publications Sci. publications / Agricultural Report (AR) *) Final meeting of LCA-FADN on 24/11/2010 AR / message / sci. publications 5

5 AEI-FADN Project Objectives Development and implementation of processes for obtaining individual-farm data Calculation of Agri-Environmental Indicators (AEIs) on the individual farms Extrapolation of the individual-farm AEIs to the Region and FarmType Levels Aggregation of the data on a national level (where possible) and of the comparison with indicators calculated on a national level. Provision of a data pool for combined ecological and economic analyses. 6

6 Regions and Farm Types Extrapolation of the results to national level Farm Types (11) Regions (3) Valley Hill Mountain Data recording and calculation of the AEIs on farm level 7

7 Regions and Farm Types II Mountain Hill Valley 8

8 AEM Systematic Overview ART; AEI-FADN Project FOEN 9

9 Data and Processes Challenges Determining the common data basis for all AEM AEIs (PEP dataset) AEI methodology development for the Farm level (incl. adaptation to the dataset) Determining the selection plan Organisation of continuous data acquisition on the individual farms Backing up of annual accounts and transfer of the data to the analysis facility Enabling data management and standardised analyses (automated) / Association with economic data 10

10 Discussion and Conclusions 14

11 Expected Results The FOAG possesses reliable data sources and methodological bases for AEM and the relevant coverage in the Agricultural Report. ART, ACW and FVO possess a unique internal data source for the purposes of research in agriculture, extension, economics and policy. 15

12 Project Risks Quality of the data Methodological development with predefined AEI dataset not feasible Random sample not feasible Finances Results don t match expectations High number of partners involved 16

13 Further Research and Development Completion and implementation of the calculation methods for the various indicators Development of the IT infrastructure for guaranteeing continuous data acquisition and automated AEI calculation Test feasibility of random sampling Expansion of farm network to the target size of the sampling rate Development of the standard reports (combined analyses of economic and ecological results) Transition from development project to normal operation of the AEI-FADN 17

14 Conclusions AEM on the Farm level based on a standardised dataset means breaking new ground. With the combination of ecological and economic individualfarm data extrapolated to regions and farm types, a data basis is created which purposefully supports the monitoring of policy. Regionalised AEM with prompt data acquisition immediately from the decision-makers enables early recognition of new trends and undesirable developments. AEI-FADN also serves the research sphere. The adaptation of the individual AEI methods to a non-method-specific dataset requires the courage to be imperfect as well concentration on the essential. 18