Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

Unit E1: Agriculture and fisheries

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Data on manure storage facilities are gathered through the Farm Structure Surveys (FSS) conducted by Member States accordingly to the specific community legislation.

The variables presented in this table are the following:

• Holdings with manure storage facilities
• Holdings with storage facilities for solid dung 
• Holdings with storage facilities for liquid manure 
• Holdings with storage facilities for slurry 
• Holdings with storage facilities for slurry: tank 
• Holdings with storage facilities for slurry: lagoon 
• Holdings with covered storage facilities for solid dung 
• Holdings with covered storage facilities for liquid manure 
• Holdings with covered storage facilities for slurry 

Classification in DPSIR (Driving forces, Pressures, State, Impact, Responses): Driving forces, Farm management

Agriculture

Manure storage facilities having a strong influence on the release of nutrients into the environment, their relative use is an important indicator on farm management practices. This table provides information on the storage facilities of agricultural holdings for different types of manure:
- Storage facilities for solid dung (i.e. excrements, with or without litter, of domestic animals including possibly a small amount of urine): impermeable surface with run-off containment, with or without roof;
- Storage facilities for liquid manure (i.e. urine from domestic animals including possibly a small amount of excrement and/or water) or slurry (i.e. manure in liquid form, that is to say a mixture of excrements and urine of domestic animals, including possibly also water and/or a small amount of litter): open or covered watertight tank, or lined lagoon.

NB: Storage facilities that are not used during the 12-month reference period of the FSS are not recorded.

Agricultural holding (a single unit, both technically and economically, which has a single management and which produces agricultural products), which has:

• an utilised agricultural area of 1 ha or more,
• an utilised agricultural area of less than 1 ha if it markets produce on a certain scale or if its production units exceed certain natural thresholds.

The data on individual agricultural holdings are collected by all Member States who design the surveys so as to ensure the representativeness of the population with regards to geographic regions and farm types and sizes. Such microdata are sent to Eurostat who disseminates the aggregated results.

EU Member States, plus Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Montenegro and their regions down to NUTS 3 level where appropriate.

FSS data:

• Full census in 2000 and 2010.
• Sample surveys in 2003 (these characteristics were not surveyed in 2005 and 2007).

In 2010 data were available as part of the Survey on Agricultural Production Methods (SAPM) accompanying the regular Farm Structure Survey.

Not available.

All variables are measured in number of holdings having mentioned manure storage facilities.

Variables are also expressed as percentages as follows:

• Holdings with storage facilities for solid dung, holdings with storage facilities for liquid manure and holdings with storage facilities for slurry are expressed as percentages in the total number of holdings with manure storage facilities;
• Holdings with manure storage facilities are expressed as percentages in the total number of holdings having livestock.

Data on manure storage facilities represent the situation at the time of the survey.

On agri-environmental indicators:
Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on the development of agri-environmental indicators for monitoring the integration of environmental concerns into the common agricultural policy (COM(2006) 508 final).

On FSS:
Regulation (EC) No 1166/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on farm structure surveys and the survey on agricultural production methods and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 571/88.
Commission Decision 2007/80/EC authorising certain Member States to use information from sources other than statistical surveys for the 2007 survey on the structure of agricultural holdings.
Commission Regulation (EC) No 204/2006 adapting Council Regulation (EEC) No 571/88 and amending Commission Decision 2000/115/EC with a view to the organisation of Community surveys on the structure of agricultural holdings in 2007.
Commission Decision 2005/124/EC authorising certain Member States to use information from sources other than statistical surveys for the 2005 survey on the structure of agricultural holdings.
Commission Regulation (EC) No 2139/2004 adapting and implementing Council Regulation (EEC) No 571/88 and amending Commission Decision 2000/115/EC with a view to the organisation of Community surveys on the structure of agricultural holdings in 2005 and 2007.
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1444/2002 amending Commission Decision 2000/115/EC relating to the definitions of the characteristics, the exceptions to the definitions and the regions and districts regarding the surveys on the structure of agricultural holdings.
Commission Regulation (EC) No 143/2002 amending Annex I to Council Regulation (EEC) 571/88 in view of the organisation of the Community surveys on the structure of agricultural holdings in 2003, 2005 and 2007.
Commission Decision 2000/115/EC relating to the definitions of the characteristics, the exceptions to the definitions and the regions and districts regarding the surveys on the structure of agricultural holdings.
Council Regulation (EEC) 571/88 on the organisation of the Community surveys on the structure of agricultural holdings between 1998 and 1997.

Not available.

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

This table builds this indicator on manure storage facilities upon FSS data. No confidential data is involved at this late stage of data treatment. See data treatment confidentiality of Farm Structure Surveys for information on the initial stages of data collection, validation and first-hand dissemination.

Not available.

Not available.

In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website (see item 10 - 'Accessibility and clarity') respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.

Data are disseminated for each of the surveyed years.

News releases on-line.

Not available.

Eurostat dissemination format.

Not available.

Not available.

See 'Documentation on methodology' in the "Structure of agricultural holdings" reference metadata (please see 'Related Metadata' at the bottom of the page).

Not available.

See the Eurostat Quality Assurance Framework

Not available.

Main users are the general public and policy-makers interested in the integration of environmental concerns into the Common Agricultural Policy (see COM(2006) 508 final).

Not available.

Manure storage is part of a set of 28 agri-environmental indicators targeting farm management practices, agricultural production systems, pressures and risks on the environment and the state of natural resources.

Good.

See 'Sampling error' in the "Structure of agricultural holdings" reference metadata (please see 'Related Metadata' at the bottom of the page).

Not available.

For each survey, the legislation sets deadlines for Member States to transmit data to Eurostat. Then, the data received are validated and uploaded in Eurostat database.

Not available.

Good geographical comparability in general, although the non-existing and non-significant characteristics are not surveyed in the concerned Member States.

Good comparability over time.

Not applicable: data on the distribution of manure storage facilities of agricultural holdings are not collected by other means, thus cross-domain coherence is not an issue here.

Manure storage facilities have been checked against the other characteristics during the validation process.

Cost and burden on respondents apply mainly to previous stages of this dissemination process i.e. on the collection of data through the conduct of Farm Structure Surveys and the treatment of FSS data.

Revision will occur when and if related revision occurs in the source data i.e. manure storage facilities as provided by the Farm Structure Survey (Survey on Agricultural Production Methods).

Variables might be added and/or revised in the future.

See Farm Structure Surveys (FSS).

See Farm Structure Surveys (FSS).

See Farm Structure Surveys (FSS).

See Farm Structure Surveys (FSS).

See Farm Structure Surveys (FSS).

See Farm Structure Surveys (FSS).

None