Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
For more information, you can consult the Eurostat glossary page on the standard output
3.2. Classification system
Data collected include information on the number of harvests, value, quantity and unit price corresponding to the standard output coefficients of a list of products, broken down by FADN region for each country (reference area). Such values are expressed in euro (and in national currency for countries out of euro area).
The list of products is based on the classifications of crop and livestock variables available in Annex III of Regulation (EU) 2018/1091.
The FADN regions refer to the Farm Accountancy Data Network divisions that are territories of a Member State, or any part thereof, delimited with a view to the selection of returning holdings. See Council Regulation (EC) No 1217/2009 for more information.
The standard output coefficients are used to calculate the standard output of agricultural holdings and to classify agricultural holdings by type of farming and by economic size.The farm type is determined by the relative contribution of the different productions to the total standard output of the holding.
The standard output coefficient of an agricultural product (crop or livestock), abbreviated as SOC, is the average monetary value of the agricultural output at farm-gate price, in euro per hectare or per head of livestock.
Other concepts and definitions are presented in the Typology handbook (RI/CC 1500 rev 5) prepared by the Committee for the Farm Accountancy Data Network.
Standard Output Coefficients (SOC) are collected under the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN), by FADN regions in each country. FADN regions are mapped with NUTS regions. For more information on NUTS regions, see the NUTS classification.
3.8. Coverage - Time
The SO 2004 was calculated using the average of 2003, 2004 and 2005 prices. It is applied in 2007 Farm structure survey data and has been applied to 2005 Farm structure survey to allow comparability over the time periods.
The SO 2007 was calculated using the average of 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 prices. It is applied in the 2010 Farm structure survey data.
The SO 2010 was calculated using the average of 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 prices. It is applied in the 2013 Farm structure survey data.
The SO 2013 was calculated using the average of 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 prices. It is applied in the 2016 Farm structure survey data.
The SO 2017 was calculated using the average of 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 prices. It is applied in the 2020 Farm structure survey data.
The SO 2020 was calculated using the average of 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 prices. It is applied in the 2023 Farm structure survey data.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable
Units of measure utilised in the SOC data set will be listed in the data transmission file to Eurostat by product. In general terms the used ones are EUR/100HEAD, EUR/100M2, EUR/HA, EUR/HEAD, EUR/HIVE.
For IFS 2023, the Standard Output Coefficients are those calculated on the period of 5 years that spans from 2018 to 2022 (SOC2020)
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
Not relevant.
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
Not relevant.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
The statistical secret is defined in the law N°51-711 of June 7th, 1951 modified on the obligation, the coordination and the secret regarding statistics.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
In all calculations, results that concerns either less than three observations or any datum for which a single observation represents 85% or more of the observed value are not published.
The methodology is available on the statistical French ministry of agriculture website and the coefficients will be published when they will come into force.
8.1. Release calendar
The calendar for the release of SOC2020 at national level has not been decided yet.
8.2. Release calendar access
There has been no dissemination of the release calendar at the national level.
8.3. Release policy - user access
Not relevant.
SOC data are published by Eurostat. The publication of the data normally takes place within N+1 year after the deadline for the data transmission. Nevertheless updates of the data can occur, triggered by DG Agri and Eurostat revision and post-validation checks
Data used to compute SOC2020 is from many different sources: crops statistics, livestock statistics, administrative data on animals, FADN, agricultural economic accounts, agricultural prices indexes... Most of those sources have very high quality standrds, and many are transmitted to Eurostat or DG AGRI. Some technical parameters, in particular regarding animal production, are derived from partial information and may be of lower quality.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Not applicable.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
In most cases, the computed SOC2020 are relevant regarding user needs. In some cases, the lack of data available to compute precise SOC may make the result less relevant.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
SOC are very well accepted regarding their ability to make it possible to give a detailed picture of agriculture by groups of farms carrying out the same productions, or groups of farms of similar economic dimensions.
12.3. Completeness
SOC2020 were calculated for almost all products in all FADN regions. Obviously, not all products are present in all regions. However, the value is always estimated either with the production of a neighboring region or with the national average to initialize the value in case of apparition of the production.
12.3.1. Data completeness - rate
100%
13.1. Accuracy - overall
It is very difficult to assess the accuracy of the calculations which involve data from many different sources, especially for animals (average over 5 years for production data, average technical mortality data, fecundity rate,…, proportion of production under sign of quality, price of secondary products…).
Overall, calculations for metropolitan areas are based on reliable data. When this is not the case, the regions (with similar agroecological or economic conditions) are gathered together. Comparison with the different sources allows us to obtain somewhat more precise results than the FADN survey which includes 7,000 farms in France.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable.
13.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Not relevant.
13.3.1. Coverage error
Not relevant.
13.3.1.1. Over-coverage - rate
Impossible to assess.
13.3.1.2. Common units - proportion
Not applicable.
13.3.2. Measurement error
Impossible to assess.
13.3.3. Non response error
Not applicable.
13.3.3.1. Unit non-response - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.3.2. Item non-response - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.4. Processing error
Impossible to assess.
13.3.5. Model assumption error
Not applicable.
14.1. Timeliness
Most SOC2020 require FADN data from 2018 to 2022 to be available. The 2022 data was available at the end of 2023. The calculations were carried out in 2024.
14.1.1. Time lag - first result
Not relevant.
14.1.2. Time lag - final result
Not relevant.
14.2. Punctuality
Data provided on 8 November 2024.
14.2.1. Punctuality - delivery and publication
Not relevant.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
France has the particularity of having overseas territories where comparisons with the rest of the country does not make sense. The data for Corsica is also atypical. For those regions, fewer surveys are available making the calculations more difficult.
Data from metropolitan areas outside Corsica are comparable and calculated using the same methods.
15.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient
Not relevant.
15.2. Comparability - over time
For the majority of products, the series are comparable over time; for a few products however, changes in calculation methodology lead to breacks in time series. For instance, for male bovines over 2 years old, we updated the estimation of the average weight of an animal in that category, which may have been overestimated in SOC2017.
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
Not relevant.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Not relevant.
15.3.1. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics
Not relevant.
15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts
Not relevant.
15.4. Coherence - internal
Not relevant.
35 days full-time, split between two of the Ministry's statisticians. Consistency checks were carried out by the Ministry's regional statistics departments in each region, the cost of which is difficult to estimate.
17.1. Data revision - policy
Revisions may occur in early 2025, following remarks received from Eurostat in November 2024.
17.2. Data revision - practice
Data may be revised in early 2025 in the light of checks by Eurostat.
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
Not relevant.
18.1. Source data
Data used to compute SOC2020 is from many different sources: crops statistics, livestock statistics, administrative data on animals, FADN, agricultural economic accounts, agricultural prices indexes... When no data was available, technical data on animals, quotes or expert opinions (ostriches, Christmas trees) have been used.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
SOC data transmission occurs every 3 years
18.3. Data collection
Not relevant.
18.4. Data validation
SOC2020 were calculated by the "Service de la statistique et de la prospective", the statistics department of the ministry of agriculture.
For more information, you can consult the Eurostat glossary page on the standard output
29 November 2024
The standard output coefficient of an agricultural product (crop or livestock), abbreviated as SOC, is the average monetary value of the agricultural output at farm-gate price, in euro per hectare or per head of livestock.
Other concepts and definitions are presented in the Typology handbook (RI/CC 1500 rev 5) prepared by the Committee for the Farm Accountancy Data Network.
Standard Output Coefficients (SOC) are collected under the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN), by FADN regions in each country. FADN regions are mapped with NUTS regions. For more information on NUTS regions, see the NUTS classification.
For IFS 2023, the Standard Output Coefficients are those calculated on the period of 5 years that spans from 2018 to 2022 (SOC2020)
It is very difficult to assess the accuracy of the calculations which involve data from many different sources, especially for animals (average over 5 years for production data, average technical mortality data, fecundity rate,…, proportion of production under sign of quality, price of secondary products…).
Overall, calculations for metropolitan areas are based on reliable data. When this is not the case, the regions (with similar agroecological or economic conditions) are gathered together. Comparison with the different sources allows us to obtain somewhat more precise results than the FADN survey which includes 7,000 farms in France.
Units of measure utilised in the SOC data set will be listed in the data transmission file to Eurostat by product. In general terms the used ones are EUR/100HEAD, EUR/100M2, EUR/HA, EUR/HEAD, EUR/HIVE.
Not relevant.
Data used to compute SOC2020 is from many different sources: crops statistics, livestock statistics, administrative data on animals, FADN, agricultural economic accounts, agricultural prices indexes... When no data was available, technical data on animals, quotes or expert opinions (ostriches, Christmas trees) have been used.
SOC data are published by Eurostat. The publication of the data normally takes place within N+1 year after the deadline for the data transmission. Nevertheless updates of the data can occur, triggered by DG Agri and Eurostat revision and post-validation checks
Most SOC2020 require FADN data from 2018 to 2022 to be available. The 2022 data was available at the end of 2023. The calculations were carried out in 2024.
France has the particularity of having overseas territories where comparisons with the rest of the country does not make sense. The data for Corsica is also atypical. For those regions, fewer surveys are available making the calculations more difficult.
Data from metropolitan areas outside Corsica are comparable and calculated using the same methods.
For the majority of products, the series are comparable over time; for a few products however, changes in calculation methodology lead to breacks in time series. For instance, for male bovines over 2 years old, we updated the estimation of the average weight of an animal in that category, which may have been overestimated in SOC2017.
