Project review and recommendations for SCOF :Project review and recommendations for SCOF Nicolas Lampkin
University of Wales, Aberystwyth
(Project co-ordinator) Archived at http://www.orgprints.org/8963
An EU-FP5 (2003-2006) project which :An EU-FP5 (2003-2006) project which Covered farm, trade and consumer level data
Reviewed state of organic data in 32 countries
Identified development needs/harmonisation opportunities
Evaluated innovative national level pilot projects
Proposed recommendations to Brussels seminar Nov-05
Prepared final recommendations in consultation with EU Commission (DG Agri, Eurostat)
Need for organic production/market data :Need for organic production/market data For producers to assess costs of conversion
For the market to achieve transparent price setting with knowledge of costs and levels of production
For control bodies/authorities to estimate output levels for traceability and fraud prevention
For policy-makers to set support levels and allocate resources for policy support (action plan targets)
For researchers to evaluate policy, economic and other issues and project future trends
The need is recognised … :The need is recognised … Increasing Eurostat, DG Agri, EEA and MS activity
The EU organic action plan and several national action plans include the need to develop organic statistics/market information systems
Article 30 of the draft revision of CR 2092/91 includes requirement for member states to deliver data
But …
... still some way to go :... still some way to go EISfOM project review (D2, Wolfert et al., 2004) and Berlin seminar proceedings (Recke et al., 2004) found:
Statistics poorly developed or non-existent in many countries
Some good practice examples in a few countries
Limited international collaboration and harmonisation
Level of investment in statistics and market information does not reflect size of sector
Significance of organic farming in EU/CH :Significance of organic farming in EU/CH > 6 million ha (av. 4% UAA, range 1-15%)
> 160,000 holdings (2%) and 20-30,000 other businesses are engaged with the organic sector
> 500,000 people earning a living from organic food and farming.
Consumers spending up to €15 billion annually
Demand growing up to 10% annually, 50% in some cases
Policy-makers investing up to €1 billion annually
Action plans typically targeting 10-20% UAA organic by 2010.
Sources of organic production data :Sources of organic production data Holdings, land use, crops areas, livestock nos.
National statistics
Member state reporting to EU Commission under EU Reg 2092/91 (usually subset of national data)
Farm structure survey
Agri-environment scheme monitoring
Potentially IACS, livestock movements etc.
No coherent system for estimating production quantities
Problems with Farm Structure Survey :Problems with Farm Structure Survey Full census 2000, 2010; sample surveys in 2003, 2005, 2007
Organic holdings identified, but
Imprecise definition of organic
Mixed status holdings
Organic samples in intermediate years not representative
Small holdings excluded in some countries
But – important source of supplementary information not available from control bodies
Problems with administrative (2092/91) data :Problems with administrative (2092/91) data Non-standardised land use classification system
Inconsistent definitions of holdings
Variable quality of recording systems
Gaps in data
Reliant on ‘voluntary’ collaboration of control bodies
Recommendations for production data :Recommendations for production data Integrate FSS and administrative data classification and holding identification systems
Impose legal requirement (at MS level?) on control bodies to deliver data to required standard, possibly with financial support
Develop system for combining data sources
Find solution to FSS problem of product identification on mixed status holdings
Sources of organic farm financial data :Sources of organic farm financial data Consultants working with producers (e.g. benchmark data, Farm Management Handbooks)
Research projects (EU or national funded)(e.g. Offermann and Nieberg OFCAP/EU-CEE-OFP)
National farm accounts surveys(e.g. LEI, Agrarbericht)
EU-FADN since 2000 (holdings with organic identifier, but not full sample of available data)
Problems with organic farm financial data :Problems with organic farm financial data Recruitment
Comparability of definitions
Identification, especially mixed status holdings
Small sample size, non-representative
Classification based on conventional SGMs
Comparisons with conventional farms
Limited availability of time series data
Significance of farming-related activities, e.g. agro-tourism, processing
Recommendations for financial data :Recommendations for financial data Improve access to data/advice (treat farmer as main beneficiary of surveys)
Modify definition to certified in accordance with EU Reg. 2092/91
Introduce coding system to identify management status of individual products
Over-sampling within organic stratum in national FADN
Submission of full organic samples to EU-FADN
Appropriate (national) weightings
Prioritisation of key farm types
Standardised approach to comparisons
Problems with price data :Problems with price data No EU-wide or national systems in most countries
Commercially collected data not public
Data too historical
Immediate data needed for price transparency and efficient market functioning
Historical data, e.g. from FADN, may be useful for research and policy evaluation
Need to cover inputs, farm-gate, wholesale and consumer prices
Recommendations for price data :Recommendations for price data Build up network of national systems based on good practice examples like ZMP (DE)
Needs motivated participants (quick return of useful data)
Needs sufficiently differentiated classification system of products by type, use, pack size, marketing channels etc.
Product classification issues also need to be addressed internationally (Eurostat/FAO)
Prioritise key products where resources are limited
Sources of consumption data :Sources of consumption data Statistical data
Household budget or
Food expenditure surveys
Some Eurostat initiatives with MS in 2004/5
Commercial market-research data
E.g. TNS, GfK, AC Nielsen
Consumer and retailer panel data
Barcode/check-out data
Focus on consumer motives/characteristics as well as purchasing behaviour and market size
Problems with consumption data :Problems with consumption data No standardised classification system for organic products (e.g. in COICOP)
Long lead in times for inclusion in regular statistics
Statistical data too historical for use by market actors
Lack of comparability between, incomplete coverage and uncertain data quality of current commercial market research
Recommendations for consumption data :Recommendations for consumption data Establish an expert network including commercial market researchers (e.g. Europanel)
Work with Europanel to define harmonised output data standards (consistent with CR 2092/91 and future developments by Eurostat and national authorities)
Develop a pilot project to test the data harmonisation concept
selecting countries with existing household panel data
integrating main stakeholders
utilising commercial market researchers for data collection
Sources of trade data :Sources of trade data Should be available as part of control system (within supply chains as well as imports/exports)
Market research, for example
OMIARD project (Hamm and Groneveld)
International/National organic sector data reports
Organic Monitor, Datamonitor etc.
Some limited national statistics (e.g. Denmark, UK)
Problems with trade data :Problems with trade data Most problematic area as few good models exist
In practice, control bodies do not collect and/or release data
Intermediate use (e.g. animal feed) not captured
Import approvals not always associated with quantities
Organic not separately identified in trade statistics
Businesses highly sensitive to commercial confidentiality issues
Market research data quality is poor
Recommendations for trade data :Recommendations for trade data Legal requirement (at MS level?) on control bodies to collect/deliver data
Support development of IT systems
Use import authorisation process for import data collection
Possibly initiate surveys of organic actors
Long term develop separate identification for organic in trade statistics
Institutional structures :Institutional structures Central role for Eurostat and DG Agrias well as other parts of European Commission
Model needs to integrate needs and contributions of stakeholders, as well as external expertise
Develop an expert advisory group working with EU Commission and national official agencies
Alternative option of EU Observatory or Organic Market Data Network building on national examples
Resourcing organic statistics :Resourcing organic statistics Reduce costs by adapting existing systems where possible
Focus on priority products initially
Potential for private sector contributions (sale of reports, subscriptions, levy funds, sponsorship from key retailers)
National statistical and research funds, including CORE organic ERANET
EU FW7, Eurostat
Conclusions – common themes :Conclusions – common themes Accurate identification of holdings and products
Appropriate samples of organic holdings (size and representativity/weighting issues)
Harmonisation of classification systems
Prioritisation of key commodities and farm types
Integration of experiences from stakeholders and researchers to support new initiatives by statistical agencies
Evolution of existing systems (e.g. FSS, FADN) to provide organic data where possible
Pilot projects where new systems required
Acknowledgement :Acknowledgement Financial support from the European Commission gratefully acknowledged.
The views expressed are our own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Commission, nor do they anticipate future policy in this area.