7-8-March 2011 Task Force "Organic farming statistics"-Luxembourg, 7-8 March Item 4 Harmonised questionnaire for data collection: State of the art of the data availability Elisabeth Rohner-Thielen Food safety statistics

7-8 March 2011Task Force "Organic farming statistics"-Luxembourg, 7-8 March Introduction (1) The share of area under organic farming methods out of the total Utilised Agricultural Area (UAA) is still on a slight upward trend: EU-27: 2005: 3.6% 2009: 4.7%

7-8 March 2011Task Force "Organic farming statistics"-Luxembourg, 7-8 March Introduction (2) Organic area as % of UAA by country

7-8 March 2011Task Force "Organic farming statistics"-Luxembourg, 7-8 March Harmonised questionnaire for data collection Table 1: Number of organic operators - Data availability (1) 2009 data: available for all EU-27 countries, except Portugal; available for Norway and Switzerland Countries joining the EU in 2004: in general data available from 2004 onwards, or even for previous years, except Estonia (2005)

7-8 March 2011Task Force "Organic farming statistics"-Luxembourg, 7-8 March Harmonised questionnaire for data collection Table 1: Number of organic operators - Data availability (2) Countries joining the EU in 2006: data transmission from 2006 onwards Most reported data: activities of producers, processors and importers

7-8 March 2011Task Force "Organic farming statistics"-Luxembourg, 7-8 March Harmonised questionnaire for data collection Table 1: Number of organic operators – Discussion points (1) Is the list of operators detailed enough / too detailed? Are operator types missing? Do you have difficulties to collect data on 'New operators' and 'Operators withdrawn'?

7-8 March 2011Task Force "Organic farming statistics"-Luxembourg, 7-8 March Harmonised questionnaire for data collection Table 1: Number of organic operators – Discussion points (2) Mixed operators (operators with more than one activity should be classified according to their main activity. How do you define 'main activity'? What is the size of organic aquaculture animal production units? Other questions?

7-8 March 2011Task Force "Organic farming statistics"-Luxembourg, 7-8 March Harmonised questionnaire for data collection Table 2a: Organic crop area - Data availability (1) 2009 data: available for all EU-27 countries, except Portugal; available for Norway and Switzerland Countries joining the EU in 2004: in general data available from 2004 onwards, or even for previous years, except Estonia (2005) Countries joining the EU in 2006: data transmission from 2006 onwards

7-8 March 2011Task Force "Organic farming statistics"-Luxembourg, 7-8 March Harmonised questionnaire for data collection Table 2a: Organic crop area - Data availability (2) Data are not always reported for all products, but for the main categories and the total area. Data availability allows calculating the share of the organic crop area in the total Utilised Agricultural Area (UAA), by country and EU aggregates.

7-8 March 2011Task Force "Organic farming statistics"-Luxembourg, 7-8 March Harmonised questionnaire for data collection Table 2a: Organic crop area - Discussion points (1) The list of crops has been adapted to the list of Regulation 543/2009 concerning 'crop statistics'.  Is this list detailed enough / too detailed?  If too detailed, what should be dropped?  Are crops missing? Is the distinction between 'Area under conversion' and 'Fully converted area' difficult to be reported? If yes, which are the main difficulties? Do you collect data on 'Green house area'? Would it be useful/relevant to collect it? For which crops?

7-8 March 2011Task Force "Organic farming statistics"-Luxembourg, 7-8 March Harmonised questionnaire for data collection Table 2a: Organic crop area - Discussion points (2) Do you collect data on 'Forest and wild plants area'?  Would it be useful to collect them?  Where should these data be included? Under 'Other permanent crops'? Other proposals? Until now main crops are reported. Should secondary crops also be reported (which means that the area is duplicated)?

7-8 March 2011Task Force "Organic farming statistics"-Luxembourg, 7-8 March Harmonised questionnaire for data collection Table 2a: Organic crop area - Discussion points (3) Should we fix a threshold for the reporting of area (at least 100 ha) by crop? Should the threshold be different for 'crops from arable land', 'vegetables' or 'permanent crops'? Other questions?

7-8 March 2011Task Force "Organic farming statistics"-Luxembourg, 7-8 March Harmonised questionnaire for data collection Table 2b: Organic crop production - Data availability (1) : data available only for 16 EU-27 Member States and Norway 2009 data: available only for 12 EU-27 Member States

7-8 March 2011Task Force "Organic farming statistics"-Luxembourg, 7-8 March Harmonised questionnaire for data collection Table 2b: Organic crop production - Data availability (2) Incomplete data in terms of reported years Incomplete data in terms of products Grants 2009: financial help to develop or improve data collection (Italy, Austria, Romania, Sweden, Norway)

7-8 March 2011Task Force "Organic farming statistics"-Luxembourg, 7-8 March Harmonised questionnaire for data collection Table 2b: Organic crop production - Discussion points (1) What are the problems to collect crop production data? Should grass production be reported in green or as recalculated amount in hay? Should the production for feeding, e.g. cereals or grass, be included?

7-8 March 2011Task Force "Organic farming statistics"-Luxembourg, 7-8 March Harmonised questionnaire for data collection Table 2b: Organic crop production - Discussion points (2) Should we fix a threshold for reporting crop production data (i.e. only for crops with a cultivated area of at least 100 ha)? Should the threshold be different for 'crops from arable land', 'vegetables' or 'permanent crops'? Other questions?

7-8 March 2011Task Force "Organic farming statistics"-Luxembourg, 7-8 March Harmonised questionnaire for data collection Table 3: Organic livestock and products of animal origin; organic aquaculture - Data availability Data on organic livestock are quite well reported over the past five years, except Germany and Malta Data on organic products of animal origin are very incomplete (partially reported by some countries). No data so far on organic aquaculture

7-8 March 2011Task Force "Organic farming statistics"-Luxembourg, 7-8 March Harmonised questionnaire for data collection Table 3a: Organic livestock - Discussion points (1) Is the list of livestock detailed enough / too detailed? Are species missing? Are there any problems with the reporting of the different animal species?

7-8 March 2011Task Force "Organic farming statistics"-Luxembourg, 7-8 March Harmonised questionnaire for data collection Table 3a: Organic livestock - Discussion points (2) Is the reporting condition (number of heads at the end of the reference year) applicable for all species? If not, other proposals? Does the category 'Laying hens' also cover 'Breeding cocks for laying hens' (as specified in Regulation 1444/2002)? Other questions?

7-8 March 2011Task Force "Organic farming statistics"-Luxembourg, 7-8 March Harmonised questionnaire for data collection Table 3b: Organic products of animal origin- Discussion points Is the list of products detailed enough / too detailed? Are products missing? Do you agree to the unit 'tons' for all product types? Other questions?

7-8 March 2011Task Force "Organic farming statistics"-Luxembourg, 7-8 March Harmonised questionnaire for data collection Table 3c: Organic aquaculture - Discussion points What are the main species? Other questions?

7-8 March 2011Task Force "Organic farming statistics"-Luxembourg, 7-8 March Harmonised questionnaire for data collection Table 4: Number of organic processors and value/volume of production by type of economic activity - Data availability Data on operators processing products issued from organic farming are provided by all EU-27 Member States, except Germany Provision of value/volume of production is optional, but would be welcomed Two countries (Estonia and Latvia) provided data 2009 on volume of production.

7-8 March 2011Task Force "Organic farming statistics"-Luxembourg, 7-8 March Harmonised questionnaire for data collection Table 4: Number of organic processors and value/volume of production by type of economic activity – Discussion points (1) Is the list of economic activities detailed enough / too detailed? Are activities missing? Is the Nace classification appropriate for the data collection?

7-8 March 2011Task Force "Organic farming statistics"-Luxembourg, 7-8 March Harmonised questionnaire for data collection Table 4: Number of organic processors and value/volume of production by type of economic activity – Discussion points (2) What is the definition of 'Number of processors': one central enterprise or departments (local units) of one enterprise? The reporting of the 'Value' and the 'Volume' of the production is optional. Where do you see the biggest problems to provide data? Other questions?

7-8 March 2011Task Force "Organic farming statistics"-Luxembourg, 7-8 March Data transmission Timeliness has improved. Data 2009 have been provided by more than half of the EU-27 Member States and Norway around the deadline 1st July Member States, Norway and Switzerland used the eDamis transmission mode. No data were provided by Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta (use of other sources) and Portugal.

7-8 March 2011Task Force "Organic farming statistics"-Luxembourg, 7-8 March Conclusion Upward trend of organic farming and production in the EU-27 Update of the Eurostat database depends on a reliable data transmission by the countries Data 2010: deadline 1st July 2011

7-8 March 2011Task Force "Organic farming statistics"-Luxembourg, 7-8 March THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION For further information: