Methodology

Metadata

• • Farm structure
• • Economic accounts for agriculture
• • Selling prices of agricultural products (absolute prices)
  • Price indices of agricultural products
  • Land prices and rents
• • Crop production
  • Crop balance sheets
  • Animal production
• • Organic farming
• • Orchard
  • Vineyard
• • Pesticide sales
  • Pesticide use in agriculture
  • Harmonised risk indicator 1 for pesticides by categorisation of active substances
  • Gross nutrient balance
  • Consumption of inorganic fertilizers

Farm to fork strategy indicators for pesticides

Farm to fork strategy indicators are used to measure progress towards achieving the pesticides reduction targets under the farm to fork strategy. This strategy aims to reduce by 2030 the overall use and risk of chemical pesticides by 50% and the use of more hazardous pesticides by 50%.

The following 2 indicators are calculated by Eurostat:

• trend in the use and risk of chemical pesticides: This trend is measured using data on:
  • the quantities of active substances contained in the pesticides which are placed/sold on the market and therefore used, in each EU member
  • the hazard properties of these active substances;
• trend in the use of more hazardous pesticides: This trend is measured using data on the quantities of more hazardous active substances (the so called ‘candidates for substitution’), which are contained in the pesticides that are placed/sold on the market, and therefore used in each EU country.

In both cases, the trend is compared to a 3-year baseline, comprising the average of 2015, 2016, and 2017 data. The trends for the EU as well as the trends for the EU members are published by the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety.

Eurostat has prepared templates in Excel format to assist EU countries in performing these calculations. These templates also include information on the methodology used for each indicator.