Dear colleague,
the Farm to Fork Strategy, as proclaimed recently by the European Commission, has set as targets for 2030 a reduction of fertilizer use by at least 20 % and a reduction of nutrient losses by at least 50 %. Fertilization shall follow crop demand on nutrients. For this purpose, a Farm Sustainability Tool for Nutrients (FaST) shall be implemented as GAEC 5 in the new CAP:
„Member States shall establish a system for providing the Farm Sustainability Tool for Nutrients referred to in Annex III. The Commission may support with the design of that tool and with data storage and processing services requirements. Member States will have the choice to:
• customize/localize the common FaST system (language, algorithms, data sources, farm structure, …)
• use existing tools already operational if compliant with the minimum elements and functionalities
• develop their own tools“ (Campos-Rodrigues, 2019).
Within the ongoing research project FAIRWAY, a previous survey in 2019 (Klages et al., 2020), has focused on nutrient surpluses. According to this survey, fertilization planning – at least for nitrogen – already is implemented in national legislation in order to control nutrient flows and thus meet the targets of the Nitrates Directive.
The present survey is aiming at a more thorough insight of nutrient management in Member States: how fertilization is planned according to plant need and site specific conditions? Which measures are accompanying fertilization planning? What is the set-up of the flanking legislation? How efficient is the present system? Is it accepted by farmers and other „players“? Is there a control of the amount of fertilizers used? What about data privacy?
Furthermore, we would like to know if your Member State intends to implement the proposed FaST tool. In case your Member State does, please indicate the necessary alterations of the tool and the conditions in connection with. The survey concludes with some questions on the Farm to Fork Stragegy an the new EU Taxonomy.
Please note:You need to confirm the data policy at the bottom of the page to continue the survey. As we ask for rather qualitative than quantitative data, we hope to ease answering the questions. Nevertheless: the questionnaire is quite comprehensive and therefore it is possible to interrupt the completion of the forms, save your answers and resume later. For this purpose, you have to press the button "resume later" at the upper right part of the screen. The system will ask for a name, a password and your e-mail address. Opening this e-mail, you can follow a link and enter name and password to continue. In case you want to delete your answers you have already given, please press the button "exit and clear survey", otherwise we will use the partly completed dateset.
In case you have questions, do not hesitate to contact me per e-mails (susanne.klages@thuenen.de) or phone (+0049 6159 8439942).
First evaluation of data is intended to be finished within one month after completion of the survey. These interim results will be returned to every participant.
