1. AEIs State of play DG AGRI Eurostat Working Group AEI Statistics
Francesca D’Angelo
Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development
Eurostat Working Group AEI Statistics
7 – 8 October 2010

2. DG AGRI AEIs AEI 1 – Agri-environmental commitments
AEI 3 – Farmers training levels and use of environmental advisory services
AEI 23 – High Nature Value Farmland
AEI 24 – Production of renewable energy

3. AEI 1 Agro-environmental commitments
Main indicator: % of area under AE commitments on the total UAA
Source: Output indicators of the Common Monitoring and Evaluation Framework (CMEF) of the Rural Development Programmes:
reported by the MSs to DG AGRI:
On annual basis,
At programme level.

4. AEI1 - State of play (1)
Finalising the first draft of the indicator’s fact sheet;
Screening of the quality and availability of data ( ) from the 2 programming periods ( ; ):
2008 monitoring indicators: last validated data available;
2009 monitoring indicators: validation ongoing, availability end of 2010, data might be included in the factsheet (?).
Selection of data and variables offering the best quality and providing the most relevant information considering quality issues and limitations of data;

5. AEI1 - State of play (2) Main limitations: 5 selected variables.
Double counting in ;
Time series is difficult;
Difficult to aggregate and compare old and new commitments: different rules;
2008: implementation of the RDPs is still low;
5 selected variables.

6. AEI1 – Selected variables (1)
1) Physical area under agri-environmental commitments (ha and % of UAA)
Main issues and limitations:
No trend, only two best years for both period;
Better quality of data in 2008 (new variable Physical area);
Problem of double counting in 2006 (LU, AT, FI, SE)
Implementation is still low in 2008, 2009 will give a better pictures

7. 2) Area under Agri-environmental commitments by type of actions
% of Area under agri-environmental measure by type of actions (2008)

8. 2) Area under Agri-environmental commitments by type of actions
Share of UAA supported by landscape management, 2006 and 2008.
Main issues and limitations:
Information: Relative importance of the different type of action at MS and EU level;
Difficult aggregation and comparability between the two period (old commitments excluded);
: 7 categories ; : 12 categories.

9. 3) Holdings committed under Agri-environmental measures
% of holdings supported as a share of the total holdings, 2008.
Main issues and limitations:
Data available only in period, new variable;
Quality issues of data reported;
Data missing for some MSs (FR, BG).

10. 4) Agri-environmental annual expenditures
Trends of EU expenditure on agri-environmental measures ( )
Main issues and limitations:
It shows the life cycle of the programming period and the implementation of the RD programmes;
Source: DG AGRI, EAGGF-Guarantee budget execution , TRDI fund (for EU 10), EAFRD fund (EU 27).

11. 5) Average premium per hectare
Expenditures per ha (Euro per ha) in 2006 and 2008
Main issues and limitations:
2008: Data for FR and CY not availbale.
2008: It includes also old commitments still running
2008: LT only commitments signed and implemented since 2007

12. General issues and next steps
Data improved in (new variables and best quality);
Key Issue: Spatial distribution of the information.
Data at regional level is not available for EU 27, some programmes are national (19 MSs), others are regional: FR(6), DE(14), ES(17), IT(21), FI(2), UK(4), BE(2), PT(3).

13. Spatial distribution at programme level

14. AEI 3 – Farmers training level and use of environmental advisory services
Main indicator:
Number and share of farmers having made use of environmental advisory services;
Source: Output indicators of the CMEF of RDPs;
Measure: Use of advisory services by farmers.
Supporting indicator is mature and data available: source and elaboration from Eurostat.

15. Use of environmental advisory services
Period : no data available
Small measure only implemented in 2004 and the level of implementation is low in the MSs.
There is no information on specific “environmental advisory services”;
Period
Estimation: Number of farmers having made use of environmental advisory services
Data available: number of applications for “environmental including agro-environmental” services.
2008: Data available only for few MSs; quality is poor, implementation is low.

16. Use of advisory services - agriculture

17. AEI 23 – High nature value farmland
Convergence between AEI 23 methodology and CMEF approach where:
HNV farming identified through an integrated approach (land cover, farming practices and characteristics and species);
Different methodologies can be used.
CMEF “Guidance document on the application of the HNV indicator” suggests to MSs possible methods:
to identify HNV farmland and forestry areas and
to assess extent and changes in conditions through appropriate indicators;

18. CMEF: which data?
Types of semi-natural vegetation; types of cropped land, farmland features.
Farming systems and practices: grazing regimes, cropping patterns and intensity of use
Data on species and habitats 18

19. CMEF: what does it ask? (1)
HNV indicators: new for
Indicator Number
Indicator Title
Measurement
Reporting
Baseline indicator 18
Biodiversity: High nature value farmland and forestry
UAA of HNV Farmland (hectares or %)
At the beginning of the programming period (approval of the RDPs)
Impact Indicator 5
Maintenance of HNV farmland and forestry
Changes in HNV farmland and forestry defined in terms of quantitative and qualitative changes
Mid-term-evaluation (2010)

20. CMEF: state of play (1)
situation based on data reported by MSs:
Not currently possible to provide an aggregate figure at EU level;
HNV baseline indicators reported in the RDPs when approved ( );
Different kinds of figures:
areas;
% of area (not sure if it is a % of UAA);
no figures at all or very confusing.

21. CMEF: state of play (2)
2010 Screening of methodologies and parameters used by MSs;
2010 Summary of MS approaches (25 answers):
IRENA/EAA figures
Land cover (CLC, other national databases) 7
Statutory designations
Direct Field Sampling
Farming Systems/Landcover
IACS at farm level
Agri-environmental scheme
Variety of methodologies
Many combinations
Currently very limited inclusion of farming systems characteristics. 21

22. CMEF: Next steps 2010: Mid-Term evaluations of the RDPs;
MSs are using the RDP MTE to develop/refine methodology;
Reporting obligation 31/12/10: impact indicators (first assessment of the impact of the RDPs);
DG AGRI will prepare a synthesis report of the MTEs concerning the results and impacts achieved so far through the implementation of the RDPs.
Post-2013 Rural Development Policy: improving data relating to identification and monitoring of HNV land is a key challenge.

23. AEI 24 – Production of renewable energy
Current situation – sub-indicators
Production of renewable energy from agriculture (CMEF baseline indicator O24);
Production of renewable energy from forestry (CMEF baseline indicator O24);
Supported area for renewable energy production (CMEF baseline indicator O25).

24. Production of renewable energy from agriculture (1)

25. Production of renewable energy from agriculture (2)
Tot Production covers:
Biodiesel (European Biodiesel Board), bioethanol (European Bioethanol Organisation), agricultural biogas (EurObervER).
Limitations:
Data available
Data source: not based on statistics and not specific for agriculture.
Some margin of error in the estimation: 1) part of the EU biodiesel production includes non-domestic sources; ad hoc quantification is not possible. 2) “energy from agricultural biogas” also contain some biogas from municipal solid waste.
Possible improvement of data source:
DG AGRI proposed to collect information on the specific contribution of agriculture and forestry to the total production of renewable (biomass, biofuels and biogas) – “Countries annual questionnaire on renewable and wastes” (IEA, Eurostat, UNECE)

26. Production of renewable energy from forestry (1)

27. Production of renewable energy from forestry (2)
Data availability:
Source: Eurostat – Energy Statistics;
Data on production does not allow separating woody materials provided directly by forestry from those generated by agriculture or by industrial process.

28. UAA devoted to renewable energy

29. UAA devoted to renewable energy
Data availability:
Data sources – 3 components:
Set-aside area with non-food crops (DG AGRI);
Areas benefiting from the Energy crops premium (DG AGRI);
Rough estimation at EU level of the area without support, from DG AGRI’s crop balances.
Limitations:
2 regimes have been abolished in 2007 and 2008 therefore data will not be available anymore.
There is need of new source of data.