Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the implementation of the remote sensing applications and on the use of the financial resources made available to it under Council Regulation (EC) No 78/2008

Detailed information on the use of agricultural land and the conditions of arable crops is essential to the quality of yield and agricultural production forecasts. Such information is of particular use for market monitoring and the management of related market measures under the single Common Market Organisation.

In this context, the European Union has made substantial efforts to develop and improve innovative technologies and models specifically related to remote-sensing applications. The experience accumulated has shown that remote-sensing provides independent information of high quality which cannot be obtained from traditional agricultural statistics and forecasting systems.

Council Regulation (EC) No 78/2008 provides the legal framework for these remote-sensing activities for the period 2008-2013. The remote-sensing applications supported under this framework provide useful information to the Commission, to interested Member States, to research institutes and to other users, through the dissemination of different products. Since its creation, the system has been continuously improved. Additionally to the primary objective of producing yield and harvest forecasts, the system also provides useful insights into other fields relevant to EU agriculture such as climate change.

Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 78/2008 provides that the Commission shall submit a final report no later than 31 July 2013 on the implementation of the remote-sensing measures and on the use of the financial resources made available to it under the Regulation. This report is drawn up in view of a continuation of these measures within the framework of the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) beyond 31 December 2013.

The report elaborates on a possible scenario for continuation of the existing MARS Crop Yield Forecasting System for the EU and of an extension to a wider global coverage with the objectives of further improving yield forecasts for the EU and of contributing to the international initiatives launched by G20 agricultural ministers.

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)553: Follow the progress of this report through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2013:553:FIN

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