On Thursday 29 June, negotiators from the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament reached a provisional political agreement on the proposal for a regulation on the Farm Sustainability Data Network (FSDN).
The text aims to amend the existing regulation on the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) to better reflect the goals of the ‘farm to fork’ strategy. The aim is to improve the sustainability of the EU’s food systems through an enhanced data collection process.
The future FSDN regulation will provide for the collection of additional data needed to monitor the objectives of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The regulation will provide for the collection of environmental and social data, in addition to the microeconomic and accountancy data that are already collected under the FADN regulation. The European Commission is authorised to add new themes (economic, environmental and social) after three years.
The agreement provides for the sharing of data between the FSDN and other databases set up at national and European level, starting with data from the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) and data for monitoring and evaluation.
The text stipulates the voluntary nature of farmer participation (incentives are to be developed by Member States) and no penalties are possible for farmers who do not wish to participate in the system.
Thanks to the amended regulation, advisory services for farmers will be improved, while farmers’ data will be protected.
The text resulting from the agreement will first be submitted to the EU Member States within the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA), then to the Parliament for approval, before being published in the Official Journal of the EU and entering into force. The amended regulation will be supplemented by a delegated act. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)