1.3 User needs

In 2013 and 2014 the user needs assessment for farm structure was carried out and the results presented to the Standing Committee for Agricultural Statistics (SCAS / CPSA). It covered new developments in agriculture, revised legislation and changing policy priorities, in particular the reformed CAP for actions such as "greening" and climate change and also actions in DG ENV, DG CLIMA, DG REGIO, environmental accounts or biodiversity policies. These policies require high-quality data to enable evidence-based policy design, implementation and evaluation. Key stakeholders expressed this need at multiple occasions. Data providers and users also expressed a wish to increase harmonisation and coherence in order to improve data comparability and usefulness and be able to do more with fewer resources. It was also proposed to reduce burden by improving the use of administrative data registers, reusing data collected once multiple times, and harmonising concepts and definitions across legislation, domains and databases. In December 2016 the Impact Assessment Reportwas published. In it is mentioned that harmonised EU policies such as the CAP, a policy using almost one third of the EU budget, need high-quality data comparable across Member States to target policy interventions most efficiently, effectively and fairly. This can only be ensured by common and coordinated action in the European Statistical System (ESS).