OrganicDataNetwork

EU-Project „Data network for better European organic market information” (OrganicDataNetwork)

Staff involved

Main tasks of UKS

The classification of existing methods on market data collection, the development of criteria for the improvement of data quality as well as the formulations of methods for quality assurance and further development of national organic market statistics.

Main funder

European Commission (FP7)

Project aims

The project, Data Network for better European organic market information (OrganicDataNetwork) aims to increase the transparency of the European organic food market through better availability of market intelligence about the sector to meet the needs of policy makers and actors involved in organic markets.

This overall objective will be broken up into key objectives:

  1. Bring together stakeholders and bodies actively involved in organic market data collection and publication and review the needs of end-users with respect to organic market data
  2. Provide an inventory of relevant private and public bodies that are involved with the collection, processing and dissemination of organic market data in Europe
  3. Classify existing methods of organic market data collection and develop criteria for quality improvement of available data
  4. Collect, store in a common format and provide access to currently available data on organic markets in Europe
  5. Develop and test common methodologies to assess the consistency of national data, with special reference to available data on trade flows
  6. Test innovative approaches to improve the data collection and market reporting in six case study regions
  7. Disseminate project results and develop recommendations including a code of practise for organic market data collection and network beyond the conclusion of the project

To achieve these objectives, OrganicDataNetwork includes as partners a varieties of bodies (from 10 countries) that collect, publish and analyse such data. This network will closely co-operate with the EC, Eurostat and statistical offices of Member States, using existing structures for collecting and processing data on the organic market and stimulating the development of new ones by adapting existing models. The partnership will act as co-ordinating centre between stakeholders, and will result in a proposal for the establishment of a permanent network to achieve collaboration on statistical issues regarding organic market.

UKS role

Our department plays the leading role in work packages 3 and 5 of the OrganicDataNetwork project.
 
In work package 3, a number of evaluation and quality criteria for data collection and compilation methods will be defined. This also forms the base for the survey developed earlier in the project. The survey results on all existing organic market data collection and compilation methods in Europe will be classified according to various criteria. This is the prerequisite for the overall evaluation of the existing data collection methods in terms of coverage and comprehensiveness. Furthermore, the compatibility of the existing data collection methods in Europe will be analysed to answer the question whether and how the different national data can be merged into European statistics.
 
Based on the experience of the former EU projects OFCAP, OMIaRD and EISfOM, a system of equation models will be set up to detect and uncover inconsistencies of the organic market data collected in work package 5. Consistency checks of the data collected in previous work packages will be conducted using the equation models developed beforehand. Especially market data coming from the five European countries that are subject of the case studies in a subsequent work package (Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, UK) and from the case study on the Mediterranean Organic Agriculture Network will be carefully checked.

Project webpage

Project leader and partners

  • UNIVERSITA’ POLITECNICA DELLE MARCHE (UPM) Italy (project leader)
  • FORSCHUNGSINSTITUT FUR BIOLOGISCHENLANDBAU STIFTUNG (FiBL) Switzerland
  • UNIVERSITAET KASSEL (UKS) Germany
  • CESKA ZEMEDELSKA UNIVERZITA v PRAZE (CULS) Czech Republic
  • CENTRO INTERNAZIONALE DI ALTI STUDI AGRONOMICI MEDITERRANEI - ISTITUTO AGRONOMICO
  • MEDITERRANEO DI BARI (IAMB) Italy
  • AGENCE FRANCAISE POUR LE DEVELOPPEMENT ET LA PROMOTION DE L'AGRICULTURE BIOLOGIQUE (ABIO) France
  • AGRARMARKT INFORMATIONS GESELLSCHAFT MBH (AMI) Germany
  • ORGANIC-MARKET.INFO (BMI) Germany
  • BIOCOP PRODUCTOS BIOLOGICOS S.A (BIOCOP) Spain
  • ECOZEPT GBR (ECO) Germany
  • CENTRE FOR ECOLOGIAL ENGINEERING (CEET) Estonia
  • INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF ORGANIC AGRICULTURAL MOVEMENTS EUROPEAN UNION REGIONAL GROUP (IFOAM EU) Belgium
  • IMO-CONTROL SERTIFIKASYON Tic. Ltd. Sti. (IMOTR), Turkey
  • THE SOIL ASSOCIATION LIMITED (SA) United Kingdom

Project leader

Prof. Dr. Raffaele Zanoli, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy

Duration of project

January 2012 to December 2014

Project number

Grant agreement no. 289376

Acronym

OrganicDataNetwork

Full project title

Data Network for better European organic market information