The European Commission adopted a proposal on Friday 9 December that seeks to establish a framework for European agricultural statistics on farms.
The text, originating from the Eurostat directorate of the Commission, incorporates parameters such as methods of production, rural development measures and agri-environmental matters.
The draft regulation also contains provisions on the financial support that would be given to member states, for example, in relation to the cost of data gathering. Regulation 1166/2008 establishes a framework for European statistics on the structure of agricultural holdings until 2016. It will be repealed thereafter.
The proposed regulation will contribute to EU responses in the areas of climate change, environmental policies, rural development, and food security, the Commission says. It will increase the comparability and coherence of EU statistics on the structure of European farms, speed up data transmission, and allow for a more elegant, flexible and targeted data collection which reduces the burden on farms in the EU. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)