Sustainability indicators at the farm level for monitoring and evaluating the CAP

FLINT used the FADN network to collect additional sustainability indicators.

Already, many Members States collect, through FADN Farm Returns additional information. For example, more than two-thirds of the countries collect information on themes such as irrigation practices, while information related to engagement in the local community, quality of life, and working conditions is collected by very few countries. Almost 20% of Member States collect data on key environmental variables such as nutrient balance, greenhouse gas emissions and pesticide usage.

FLINT proposes a systematic approach that covers a range of sustainability indicators directly related to policy evaluation. An increasing number of studies attempt to use data from FADN as proxies for environmental variables or farm practices in their assessments. Given the growing need for data on farms' economic, social and environmental sustainability performance, the FLINT’s 33 sustainability indicators are an inspiring start of what data should be collected for monitoring and how these data can be utilised for evaluating the CAP. The advantage of collecting this data in a systematic, integrated way is that it allows the evaluation of trade-offs and coherence of policy measures. For example, a policy measure may improve environmental performance at the expense of economic performance, or the action may support environmental and economic performance.

The ideas and findings of FLINT have played an essential role in the further design and implementation of the Farm Sustainability Data Network (FSDN) proposed by the EU Farm to Fork strategy.

The proposed sustainability indicators can be used without any adaptations, either in a stand-alone ad-hoc survey or as a supplement to a FADN survey.