Integration of data from agricultural practice into the Swiss agri-environmental monitoring project MAUS

In order to fulfil the requirements of the Agriculture Act and the Ordinance on the Assessment of Sustainability, the Swiss Federal Research Centre Agroscope assesses the quantitative and qualitative impacts of agriculture on the environment using regional and farm-related eco-indicators. This is done by the monitoring of the Swiss agri-environmental system (MAUS).

Thematically, these indicators cover a wide range of agroecological hotspots, such as humus, heavy metal and nutrient balances, use and risks of plant protection products, potential impact on biodiversity, greenhouse gas emissions and others. Agroscope bases the calculation of the indicators largely on existing data. To supplement and improve the quality of this data, MAUS is currently launching projects to acquire and integrate data from remote sensing, online surveys and farm management information systems (FMIS).

Integrating FMIS data essentially means requesting data that is already collected by farmers for their farm management and in order to receive direct payments. A large part of this is field calendar data, which describes what happened in a field after the previous crop was harvested: e.g., how was the seedbed prepared, what fertilisation and plant protection measures were carried out before the crop was harvested, etc.

There are various large gaps in the level of detail and scope of the FMIS available on the market compared to what is needed to calculate the indicators. Therefore, solutions are needed that allow the farms providing data to supplement missing information and, where necessary, to specify the entries for MAUS.

As part of a pilot project, a technical solution was developed with one of the Swiss providers and is currently being implemented. This has shown that, in addition to a precise definition of requirements, constant and lively dialogue is important. A comprehensive data set that exemplifies how operating data must arrive at MAUS not only helps with final testing, but also with understanding the implementation.

In the near future, other interested FMIS are to supplement their platforms so that data can be supplied to MAUS. In the collaboration between Agroscope and the interested providers, both parties will benefit from the preliminary work and the findings of the pilot project.