On Tuesday 8 May, the committee of the permanent representatives of the governments of EU member states (Coreper) confirmed the interinstitutional agreement reached on 11 April this year on the proposal for a regulation on improved data collection for integrated farm statistics.
The regulation proposed, which is expected to take effect by end 2018, should ensure the continuity of a series of European investigations on the structure of farms, thus guaranteeing coherent chronological series while meeting the new emerging needs for data at farm level. A second proposal, which concerns a framework regulation for statistics on entrants and farm products (SIPA), should follow shortly and enter into effect by 2022.
An evaluation of the European farm statistics system (SESA) has made it possible to conclude that the main users of farm statistics are very pleased with their level of precision and quality but that they deplore the lack of data on specific elements (supply reports, land prices and rents, flow of nutrients, data linked to the environment etc.) and find the system too rigid, which makes it impossible to enter newly collected data quickly.
The regulation should then be put to a vote of the European Parliament in first reading. Finally, the Council is expected to adopt the text of the regulation. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)