MIND STEP Database and Model Interfaces

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MIND STEP aims to develop a suite of individual decision making (IDM) models addressing the farm level. There is a need for various data to support these different IDMs and integrate them at the farm level. MIND STEP’s approach is to design and set up database-specific interfaces instead of building ‘one new big database’. These interfaces will also allow evaluators to access data from databases or existing global and European models or allow models to utilise new data. Ongoing work shows, for example, the development of interfaces to access FADN, the efforts to enrich existing IDMs with new data sources, the utilisation of open agricultural data collection and other interfaces.  

For accessing FADN data, an existing interface for importing, housekeeping, and working with ‘raw’ and ‘calculated’ FADN data was further elaborated and developed to an integrated FADNUtils package written in the R language.

As concerns individual decision-making models, MIND STEP is currently further developing and testing the use of FARMDYN and IFM-CAP.

AgroDataCube in the Netherlands provides an extensive collection of both open and derived data for agri-food applications. Open data has been collected from the Dutch government, Rijkswaterstaat, KNMI and Wageningen University and Research. Interoperability and re-usability create added value to the data. MIND STEP explores ways of utilising AgroDataCube into the FARMDYN.

Resources
Presentation of MIND STEP’s work
Relevance for monitoring and evaluation of the CAP

MIND STEP’s development of IDMs will improve the capacity to model agricultural and rural development policies and support policy design, impact assessments and monitoring. MIND STEP’s contributions to evaluation will be achieved by facilitating access to databases and incorporating models to assess policy impacts. Access to individual farm level data depends on General Data Protection Regulation and its application in each Member State.  

Access to multiple databases: The data products developed by MINDSTEP refer to interfaces which (a) access databases, (b) access the databases of global models and (c) connect various databases with models. In this way, evaluators will have better access to stand-alone databases like FADN and databases linked to European and global scale models such as the GLOBIOM and MAGNET.

Access to farm-level data: MIND STEP explores ways to utilise open data relevant for evaluating agricultural and rural development policies by linking them with individual decision-making models at the farm level. For data that are not open, special procedures including anonymisation and possibly aggregation may apply. However, results from models based on individual farm-level data will always be available.

Use of models to assess policy impacts: The FARMDYN farm-level model is a simulation model that can be used to evaluate the effects of agricultural policy on different farming systems. The results of the model can be triangulated with observations and expert opinions.

MIND STEP will offer a range of stand-alone and ready-to-use tools that concerns access to databases. These tools will require marginal adaptation to individual decision-making models to simulate and evaluate the effects of agricultural policy on the various farming systems and Member States.

Last modification date: 
09/12/2021