The European Court of Auditors (ECA) published a Special Report on CAP “Data in the Common Agricultural Policy Unrealized potential of big data for policy evaluations”:   

Special report 16/2022 – Using Big Data in Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) (europa.eu). In  this report some examples of NIVA were used to illustrate. 

This report assess whether the Commission is making good use of data and analytics for CAP policy analysis. This assessment is relevant both for the CAP starting in 2023 and for the post-2027 CAP. 

ECA examined what the Commission is doing to address data gaps, including the use of big data. 

According to the Report, the Commission holds large amounts of data for CAP design, monitoring and evaluation. The Commission uses conventional tools such as spreadsheets to analyse the data it collects from the Member States. Current data and tools do not deliver certain significant elements (e.g. details of the environmental  practices applied, and off-farm income) that are needed for well-informed policy making.  

The Commission has taken several legislative and other initiatives to make better use of existing data, but barriers to making the best use of collected data remain. Obstacles such as a lack of standardization and limitations due to data aggregation reduce data availability and usability.