Austrian Reporting Pilotstudy for Sustainability Agriculture

The pilot study for the sustainability report on Austrian agriculture is developing a concept for determining indicators of sustainability in the agricultural sector based on administrative data from individual farms. These indicators are intended to reflect social, economic and environmental dimensions and supplement the Green Report on the state of agriculture. An initial goal is to establish flat rates for the most important agricultural goods in Austria, i.e. standard greenhouse gas emissions per product. To this end, existing study results (e.g. emission factors for arable crops) are being used as a basis for further processing in order to avoid duplication. A further objective is to calculate three indicators for each agricultural business in Austria starting in 2020 and to develop a method for updating them. These indicators are gross value added, the employment situation and greenhouse gas emissions. With regard to the climate balance of businesses, a simplified calculation scheme is being developed in which uniform emission factors are assigned to activities. The evaluation at the business level should correspond to the results of the Austrian greenhouse gas inventory. More accurate calculations will be carried out for farms that voluntarily keep accounts, as more data is available for these farms. The indicators used for this purpose are gross and net value added, employment situation and greenhouse gas emissions. More accurate data (e.g. performance data of farm animals, purchase of fertilisers) allows for a more accurate assessment of the operational situation. Finally, a concept for the multiple use of administrative data from Austrian agriculture is to be developed in order to make a broader range of sustainability indicators for individual farms more readily available. In addition, this data should also be evaluable at regional level. This will enable it to be used for other purposes, such as the requirements of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) with regard to agricultural raw materials. The level of regional evaluation is at least NUTS 2.