Data transmission and format nutrient budgets in 2013 (CPSA/AE/110)

Eurostat has invested in developing software to store and transform national data on nutrient budgets. As is the case with all data storing software, common formats and code list need to be defined. Eurostat has defined draft formats and code-lists to be used by the countries for reporting data on nutrient budgets to Eurostat in 2013. See attached excel files.

Note that there are some significant changes to the formats used in 2010. Therefore the time-series from 1985-2011have been included. The formats for reporting the Nitrogen budgets at national levelare discussed below:

Sheet 1: mineral fertiliser consumption in tonnes of Nitrogen

There is a clear distinction between mineral fertilisers and (other) organic fertilisers, both in definition as in data availability and data sources. In the Handbook mineral fertilisers and (other) organic fertilisers are treated in different chapters, and they are now also treated in different sheets in the transmission files.

In the format of 2010 3 sheets were used for mineral fertilisers (1.1, 2.1 and 3.1). In the new version only one sheet is used for mineral fertilisers. The sheets for mineral fertilisers have been simplified to one sheet (as most countries already only reported data in nutrient content, only the final figure, mineral fertiliser consumption in nutrients is required).

Sheet 2.1-2.3: Manure production

Following the guidelines in the new Handbook, the excretion as reported to UNFCCC should be reported in these sheets. The sheets have therefore been redesigned to match the presentation of the data on excretion in the CRF reports to the UNFCCC[1] (Table 4B (b) in the CRF reports). The excel sheets contain at the top the animal categories which are presented in the CRF reports Table 4B (b). In the CRF report Table 4B (b)countries can choose the way they present the data on cattle (option A or option B). Countries can fill in for cattle the data as presented in the CRF reports under option A or option B. Note that Table 4B(b) in the CRF report of a country contains a summary in a common reporting format of the detailed estimation of N excretion which can be found in the National Inventory Reports (NIR). If countries wish to additionally submit the more detailed data which have been used to estimate the total excretion and which is summarised in Table 4B(b) of the CRF reportsthey can do this in the bottompart of the sheets. Please note however that the totals (total livestock, total cattle, total pigs, total goats, total sheep, total poultry) between the first part and the second part of sheet 2.3 should match.

Sheet 3.1-3.3 Manure withdrawals and imports

Stock changes are no longer included and have therefore been removed from the format. Please note that manure withdrawals should be reported in negative values andmanure imports in positive values. Data on manure export and import are required if significant (net import or net export >=5% of manure nutrient production. All other data are optional.

Sheet 4.1-4.3 Other organic fertilisers

Data on sewage sludge are required. All other data are optional.

Sheet 5.1-5.3 Crop and fodder removal

Data on the main crops are required: cereals, dried pulses, root crops, industrial crops, vegetables and fruit. Data on other crops not included in Crop Production Statistics (for instance flowers) which cover more than 1% of UAA and 1% of total nutrient removal by crops should be included under ornamental plants or other harvested crops. Data on the main fodder crops are also required: annual plants harvested green, leguminous plants and grasslands.

Sheet 6.1-6.3 Crop residues removed and burned

Estimation of crop residues removed and burned is required, see Handbook.

Sheet 7.1-7.3 Biological fixation of leguminous plants

Data on biological fixation of leguminous crops are required. Biological fixation by freeliving organisms is no longer included and has therefore been removed from the format. Data on biological fixation in grasslands is not included at the moment either.

Sheet 8.1-8.2 Atmospheric deposition

Data on deposition on UAA is required.

Sheet 9 Emissions

Data on Nitrogen emissions are required, as reported to UNFCCC and CLTRAP. Data on NO2 and NH3 emissions can be downloaded from national inventories to CLTRAP ( ). Data on N2O can be downloaded from national inventories to UNFCCC ( )

Sheet 10 Budget

New included are the Gross surplus and the Net surplus.

Procedure

One of the main implications of thedraft Handbook is thatfor some of the items of the budgets a data source has been defined. For these items in principle it is possible for Eurostat to pre-fill the excel files. A decision needs to be made whether it is preferable that Eurostat pre-fills such items and which items and sends the pre-filled files to the countries for further completion or whether no pre-filling is done by Eurostat. Eurostat proposes that countries fill in the complete files. Eurostat believes that pre-filling may not reduce the work neither in the NSI’s nor in Eurostat as countries will still need to check the data.

The items of the national budgets which could be pre-filled by Eurostat are[2]:

  • Data on mineral fertiliser use in rows with the codes F11_OECD and F111_OECD in sheet 1 of the Gross Nitrogen Budget (GNB) and the Phosphorus Budget (PB); Official national data on mineral fertiliser use in tonnes of N and P is submitted to Eurostat annually for dissemination in Eurobase table ''Use of inorganic fertilizers'' (aei_fm_usefert). See also discussion in document CPSA/675.
  • Data on sewage sludge use in sheet 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 of the GNB and PB. Data could be extracted from the reports for the sewage sludge directive.
  • Data on manure N production in the GNB: sheet 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3. N excretion could be extracted from the CRF reports submitted to the UNFCCC GHG Inventories.
  • Data on N manure withdrawals as reported to the UNFCCC GHG Inventories.
  • Data on livestock in the PB, sheet 2.1: Eurostat could pre-fill data available from the FSS and livestock statistics (December Survey).
  • Data on crop production in sheet 5.1 in GNB and PB: Data could be extracted from Crop Production statistics.
  • Data on leguminous crops (area), sheet 7.1 in GNB. Data could be extracted from Crop production statistics.
  • Data on land use area, sheet 8.1 in GNB and PB. Data could be extracted from Crop production statistics.
  • Data on emissions in sheet 9. Data could be extracted from the reporting to the UNFCCC and CLTRP.

Data transmission will run through EDAMIS, in this way initial data checks on e.g. aggregations can be run when accepting the data.

Coefficient revisions and missing data

Coefficient revisions cause breaks in the time series. Coefficients can be updated (with the same methodology) to include real changes in farm management which have occurred over time. In these cases the change which is observed in the balance reflects an actual change in farm practices. In other cases coefficients are revised for other reasons, e.g. because a new source became available or a new methodology to calculate coefficients was applied. In these cases the change observed in the balances may not reflect a real change in farm management practices but rather a change in data source/methodology applied.

The coefficient revisions that do not reflect an actual change in farm practices can have a big impact on the outcome of the balances. Therefore, in the WG meeting on AEI 7 and 8 October 2010 it was agreed that if the change in the coefficient does not reflect a real change in nutrient contents but merely an improved estimation or a change in data source, the new coefficients must also be used for previous years (recalculate previous years with the new coefficients), see document CPSA/AEI/092.

When new coefficients become available on a more detailed level, but data on livestock numbers/crop areas are not available in the same detail (data on livestock and crops are only available at an aggregated level) for previous years, the following was agreed: The distribution of animals and crops within a group (for instance the percentage calves for slaughter within cattle) is rather constant over time. The animal numbers could be disaggregated using an estimate of the average distribution of animals within a group over time.

Sometimes certain data on crop areas or animals may not be available in a MS for certain years. This also causes a trend break which does not reflect a real change in farmer practices. It was agreed to interpolate missing data for certain years with data which is available for other years and to mark this data as interpolated figures in blue in the GNB workbook.

Metadata

In the excel files in the first tab ''Notes'' countries are required to fill in for each item of the budget the data source and a short description of the data: methodology, update frequency, how data are collected, explanation of noticeable breaks in trends (e.g. due to animal disease, change in methodology, definition or data availability, data source used) etc. In the other tabs blue columns ''Source'' and ''Notes'' have been included where countries can include specific information on the data of a specific line in the excel sheet (e.g. information on the unit provided(e.g. fresh/dry matter) etc.

Questions

Do countries agreeto fill in the whole budgetsas proposed by Eurostat, or do countries wish Eurostat to pre-fill certain items?

Do countries agree with the excel files?

[1]Countries CRF and NIR reports can be found at:

[2] The sheet numbers refer to the sheet numbers in the attached excel workbooks for the transmission of data on Nitrogen and Phosphorus Budgets 2013.