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Aim: After 60 years of existence the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) was transformed into the Farm Sustainability Data Network (FSDN) to enhance data collection on sustainability practices in agriculture. Material and Methods: This process has been driven by policy needs regarding effective implementation of farm to fork and biodiversity strategies and related environmental and climate targets for the EU farming sector. In this concise review article key elements of the FADN's methodology and operational solutions as well policy rationale for converting it into the FSDN are highlighted. Results: The aim of the article is to provide an insight into the conceptualization of the additional set of information to be collected on farms participating in the FSDN. Based on analysis of the new farmlevel indicators potential use of that type data to facilitate policy evaluations is discussed considering some methodological constraints of the data collection system. Conclusions: In this context contribution to modification of the FADN and elaboration of final structure of the FSDN made by liaison agencies is described.

Summary: Farms face an increasing administrative burden due to the push for a more sustainable agri‐food system. Farms are required to demonstrate compliance with various sustainability schemes, and this trend is expected to intensify with a more performance‐based CAP and new directives and regulations. The need for smart data reporting is emphasised, with a focus on minimising the administrative burden, creating useful systems and indicators for farm management, and ensuring auditability.We advocate smart reporting as a solution and innovation in the farm office. The integration of data from Farm Management Information Systems (FMIS) with sustainability indicators is proposed in order to streamline the reporting process. The importance of using technology, such as e‐invoicing and robotic accounting, is highlighted to monitor and report crucial performance data. The integration of FMIS and Farm Financial Accounting (FFA) is proposed as a solution to enhance auditability and reduce manual input. The potential benefits of fully digital invoices and delivery notes to further streamline data exchange are proposed. Additionally, the paper discusses the role of central databases in the dairy sector.Policy implications for governments in promoting data‐intensive relationships with farmers are identified. They build upon previous policy measures that involved accounting within farms and the digital exchange of data.The paper concludes by emphasising the importance of supporting innovation in the farm office to unlock the full potential of technologies like blockchain, big data analysis, artificial intelligence and sustainability management.

Farmers face an increasing administrative burden as agricultural policies and certification systems of trade partners ask for more sustainability reporting. Several indicator frameworks have been developed to measure sustainability, but they often lack empirical operationalization and are not always measured at the farm level. The research gap we address in this paper is the empirical link between the data needs for sustainability reporting and the developments in data management at the farm level. Family farms do not collect much data for internal management, but external demand for sustainability data can partly be fulfilled by reorganizing data management in the farm office. The Farm Financial Accounts (FFAs) and Farm Management Information Systems (FMISs) are the main data sources in the farm office. They originate from the same source of note-taking by farmers but became separated when formalized and computerized. Nearly all European farms have a bank account and must keep financial accounts (e.g., for Value-Added Tax or income tax) that can be audited. Financial accounts are not designed for environmental accounting or calculating sustainability metrics but provide a wealth of information to make assessments on these subjects. FMISs are much less frequently used but collect more technical and fine-grained data at crop or enterprise level for different fields. FMISs are also strong in integrating sensor and satellite data. Integrating data availability and workflows of FFAs and FMISs makes sustainability reporting less cumbersome regarding data entry and adds valuable data to environmental accounts. This paper applies a design science approach to design an artifact, a dashboard for sustainability reporting based on the integration of information flows from farm financial accounting systems and farm management information systems. The design developed in this paper illustrates that if invoices were digitized, most data-gathering needed for external sustainability reporting would automatically be done when the invoices is paid by a bank transfer. Data on the use of inputs and production could be added with procedures as in current FMISs, but with less data entry, fewer risks of differences in outcomes, and possibilities of cross-checking the results.

The production of farm sustainability indicators is vital for all actors in the food chain. This paper shows how robotic accounting could assist in the monitoring and compliance of farm performance, to assess the various aspects of sustainability. We show how financial farm accounting, which is routine on most farms, can be extended to deliver a range of sustainability metrics. Using farm invoices from the Netherlands and Ireland, we show that many invoices contain volume data that can be used to calculate environmental indicators such as pesticide use, mass balances (especially needed in organic farming), material balances of N and P, energy use, antibiotics use, etc. Using a number of illustrative use cases, we show the feasibility of deriving both financial and sustainability data from invoices. Standard algorithms can be used to link the invoice data to bank payment data and code it with a chart of accounts using a simple data and process model. Linking invoices with bank data provides advantages with respect to completeness, reliability, and efficiency. We describe a software tool that provides flexible data management processes that can easily be adapted by the user to collect new data that reflect emerging environmental or social concerns. Data collectors can set up procedures in which new types of data can be acquired or new indicators calculated, avoiding the need for software reprogramming. The digitalisation of invoices, ideally in a standard (UBL) format, is a necessary step to facilitate the process described. This digital format would lead to reduced accounting costs and at the same time could also provide farmers with a dashboard of sustainability indicators. Once invoices are digitalised, accounting costs drop, the potential for errors or omissions is reduced, and the administrative burden for environmental accounting diminishes due to the low marginal cost of data management.

The European Green Deal, its Farm to Fork strategy and Biodiversity strategy will set the scene for the future revisions of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The CAP will address an increasing set of objectives, including contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris climate agreement. To enable evidence-based policy making and monitoring, the Farm to Fork strategy proposes to extend the current monitoring system to include a broader range of sustainability issues. The current monitoring system called Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) has a strong focus on financial and economic data. The FADN is an instrument for monitoring and evaluation of the EU Common Agricultural Policy and collects bookkeeping results from 80,000 farms. The extension to a Farm Sustainability Data Network (FSDN) should include a broader set of indicators on the sustainability performance of farms. This paper estimates the costs of collecting this broader set of sustainability indicators in the FSDN based on the experiences of a pilot in 9 member states and a survey among all member states. The results show that collecting the sustainability data from all farms included in FADN would increase the costs by about 40%. The results show large differences between countries depending on the current costs of data collection and the expected additional work to include sustainability indicators. Given the pressing need for these data, a scenario was developed where sustainability data are collected from a subsample of 15,000 farms. This can be achieved within current budget limits if the current FADN sample would be reduced from 85,000 to 75,000 farms. The discussion section addresses some concerns raised on the extension of FADN to FSDN such as: willingness of farmers, administrative burden, economic background of FADN and the quality of the data.

This empirical study aims to shed light on the link between innovation and economic performance at micro level. Based on a comprehensive survey among dairy and crop farms in the Netherlands we estimate a structural multi-stage model to deliver evidence on the effect of engagement and investment in innovation on the production of product, process and organizational or marketing innovations as well as on the effect of such innovations on farm level productivity. The results suggest various market and farm behaviour related factors to stimulate an increase in innovation engagement and production. Furthermore, the study reveals that indeed a greater innovation investment per unit (innovation input) leads to a higher probability of producing at least one successful product, process and/or organizational or marketing innovation (innovation output). The production of process and organizational or marketing related innovation leads to significant productivity gains. Various recommendations towards a more effective and efficient innovation policy are finally given.