The European Commission’s scienceand knowledge service

Joint Research Centre

JRC support to targeting & assessing

farming performance

Jean Michel Terres and Vincenzo Angileri MARS conference

Dublin, 28-29 November 2017

Framework for the future CAP

Policy contextCOP21 Paris Agreement, UN Sustainable Development Goals, EU Biodiversity strategy …

Public consultation on the modernizing and simplifying the CAP Main problems & drivers identified

=> CAP with higher Environmental and Climate benefits

Commission BFOR initiative, Cork 2.0 DeclarationBudget Focus On Results, Result oriented policy with targeted interventions

Agricultural policy should deliver

more benefits for environment &

climate change

Emission Sharing Regulation

NECDdirective

Water Framework& NitrateDirectives

Air qualityNH3 NOx

AGRICULTUREEnvironment impacts

Loss of biodiversity(MSA)

C sequestration

GHG emission

Water quality N

Land use

Water quality P

55%

share of agriculture in total pressure

42%

55%

13%51%

59%

10%

Water use

51% 55%Soil erosion

EU policy

EU Biodiversity Strategy

EU Soil Thematic Strategy

Environmental challenges facing EU agriculture

Related policies framework

Policy framework

Improving Targeting

Selecting farm practices to match local environmental and climate needs(The CAP – Have your say conference – Jul 2017)

=> Identifying environmental needs to better target policy measures

1. Using environmental legislationNature directives (Birds, Habitats, N2000) (e.g. Management Plans and Prioritised Action Framework)

Water Framework Directory (e.g. River Basin Management Plan)

N directive (e.g. Actions Programme)

EU biodiversity strategy=> Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystem and their Services (MAES) - Supporting target 2

2. Efficient use of environmental databases & proxiesAt time combined with geo-spatial analysis / bio-physical modelling

Water quality

Agriculture significant pressure on 90% of the assessed River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs - 2012)

EU-28: 32% of surface waters of intermediate quality12% of poor quality (concentration of nitrates)

Positive trend with Nitrates in rivers decreasing by 1% per year (annual average 1992-94 vs 2010-12)

N inputs: moderate reduction (-15% from 1980s)

Identifying environmental issues to improve targeting (1)

Soil erosion by water

Average rate of soil loss by water erosion in EU28: 2.4 t/ha/year (2012)

≈13% of EU28 arable land with moderate to severe erosion (>11 t/ha/yr)

Arable & orchard more affected (7.4%) than permanent grasslands & pasture (4.2%)

Erosion has decreased between 2000-12Mainly due to GAEC and favourable agricultural practices (reduced tillage, plant

residues, cover crops, etc.)

Identifying environmental issues to improve targeting (2)

To build robust scientific evidence of farming impacts on the

environment ((meta-)analysis of scientific literature, knowledge gathering) (e.g. for

selection of EFA)

To provide ex-ante assessment of environmental and financial impacts

of policy options (e.g. for Greening)

To define standards to measure farming performance ensuring rigorous

grounds, international relevance(e.g. guidelines for indicators)

To evaluate policy impacts based on regional / farm level tools(e.g. EFA calculator)

CAPRI

JRC Support to the policy cycle

The conceptual framework

Farm advisory services & AKIS (Agricultural knowledge and information systems)

Region/

area/

NUTS

farmpractice a

practice b

practice c

farmpractice b

practice c

practice e

farmpractice a

practice d

practice c

Farm perfor-mance

Farm perfor-mance

Farm perfor-mance

I

A

C

S

indicators

indicators

indicators

indicators

Statistics, surveys…. quantified

targets

policy performance

Robust scientific evidence

Knowledge distilled from a literature meta-analysisEvidence assessment technique to address the open-framed research questions

1. Peer review protocol defining the search strategy2. Generating the systematic map, containing the relevant evidence

Method

Time and

resource

requirement

Capacity for

participation

Risk of

bias

Systematic review high medium low

Rapid Evidence Assessment medium medium medium

Expert Consultation low medium high

Source: Dicks L., et al. (2017) Report from the EKLIPSE project.

Robust scientific evidence

Web of

Science

Science

DirectScopus

Hedges or

wooded strips20/07/2017 83 39 72 107 12

Agroforestry 27/07/2017 785 201 738 1091 43

Trees in line 26/07/2017 91 34 97 138 5

Catch crops or

green cover08/09/2017 432 70 315 506 70

Fallow land 14/09/2017 719 213 601 873 85

Nitrogen fixing

crops22/06/2017 442 87 740 911 58

EFA featureDate of

searchNumber of hits

Total number

of unique hits

Total number of

relevant hits

Search characteristics for EFA features – Climate regulation

Temporal evolution of the number of relevant publicationsdetected 3626 studies, of which 273 were deemed relevant according to the study’s specific inclusion criteria

3 abstracts/day

Farm Level Tools

sustainability assessment tools to support decision making

- to raise awareness, - to trigger farmers to become interested in sustainable farming, - to highlight areas of good or bad performance (benchmarking)

Farm Level Tools

Farm level tool

The data flow is fundamental

Geo spatial aid application, LPIS layers

Copernicus, big data…

Inspire, statistics …

Farm data

farm levelindicators

The EFA calculator for policy assessment

Calculate the potential impact of EFA features on

ecosystem services, biodiversity and managementFarm level

informationPolicy

evaluation

Farmer decision support tool Regional impact assessment tool

Suggested options for the farmer and impacts of the EFA types Impact on biodiversity of EFA implementation

in regions

Commission report on EFA implementationCOM(2017) 152 final, 29.3.2017

NUTS3 data

Farm data

Possible indicators for performance assessment

Domain Agri-environmental indicator

Climate Change GHG emissions from agriculture

Air Quality Ammonia emissions

Soil Soil erosionSoil organic content

Water Gross Nutrient Balance (N, P)Water abstraction ( by agriculture)

Biodiversity Landscape elements / EFA (fallow, linear elements, ponds …)Crop diversityGrassland (area, types)

Indicators in line with EU monitoring and reporting requirements

Adapting/scaling environmental indicators data from regional to farm level

analysis on contents collection

re-use within the IACS

specific attributes of the farm level: linked to management (e.g. practices), linked to territory (e.g. connectivity)

Consistency between farm level and regional level assessment

Summarising....

Farm practices -> farming performance (IACS data)

Reliable farm level tools to assess/measure performance

Adapting/scaling environmental indicators

Data sharing and data flow (use, collection, analysis)

Topics for discussion in 2018

Policy assessment: from national / regional, linked to performance

Addressing the environmental challenge to improve targeting

go raibh maith agaibhQuestions?