A harmonised set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) at farm level is intended to help Dutch farmers, governments and supply chain parties steer more effectively towards climate, biodiversity, water, soil, scarce resources and animal welfare goals. The aim is to establish a shared foundation for measurable sustainability performance, creating more room for professional judgement on the farm and reducing administrative fragmentation.
For decades, the Netherlands has been working to make agriculture more sustainable. Yet progress on urgent targets such as nitrogen reduction, climate mitigation, water quality and biodiversity remains limited. According to researchers at Wageningen University & Research (WUR), this is partly because policy has been strongly organised around separate measures and policy domains, while at farm level it is often unclear what concrete outcomes are expected.
Farmers also experience limited scope to choose solutions that fit their specific situation. At the same time, effective incentives for genuine sustainability improvements are often lacking. As an alternative, there is growing international interest in so called performance based policies, also referred to as target based steering. Rather than prescribing what farmers must do, this approach measures what a farm actually contributes to societal goals.
WUR therefore presents a core set of Key Performance Indicators that provides an integrated picture of the sustainability performance of individual farms.
One sustainability language for farmers, government and supply chains
The core KPI set forms a bridge between policy objectives and day to day farm management. "By steering on performance instead of measures, farmers gain more room for manoeuvre, while governments and market parties can better assess whether targets are truly being achieved," says lead author Joan Reijs. As far as possible, the indicators relate only to factors that farmers themselves can influence.
The core set builds on existing initiatives in practice and was developed in a multi year project together with, among others, Boerenverstand and the Louis Bolk Institute, commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature. Scientific knowledge and practical experience were brought together in several pilot projects. The elaboration has now been described for dairy farming and arable farming.
The set is explicitly not a finished product, but a substantiated proposal for further development. The aim is to arrive at a common sustainability language that can be used in both public and private contexts, reducing administrative burdens and development costs by avoiding multiple parallel measurement systems.
Thirteen interconnected sustainability indicators
The proposed KPI set covers thirteen topics, including ammonia emissions, nitrogen and phosphate surpluses, greenhouse gas emissions, crop protection, soil organic matter, crop diversity, nature and landscape, and animal welfare. Some KPIs, particularly those related to energy, circularity, water quantity and animal welfare, are still under development.
A key principle is that no single KPI corresponds to a single policy objective. It is precisely the integrated set that should prevent farms from performing strongly on one theme while lagging behind on others. Assessing the indicators in conjunction makes visible how performance in one area affects outcomes in another.
For dairy farmers, many KPIs can already be calculated using existing systems such as the KringloopWijzer nutrient management tool. For arable farmers, data from farm management systems and parcel registrations are required, and further automation is needed.
Three practical functions: management, accountability and steering
The pilots show that the core KPI set can fulfil three functions.
- First, it can serve as a management tool for farmers themselves, although in some cases more detailed information is desirable.
- Second, it can function as an accountability instrument for governments and companies, for example in provincial monitoring, national progress reports or European sustainability reporting.
- Third, it can be used as a steering instrument. In the dairy sector and at provincial level, premiums are already linked to KPI scores. Banks and land managing organisations also apply KPIs through interest rate discounts or lease conditions.
A basis for farm level target based policy and emission reduction assurance
The national government is working on the development of farm level target based policies for nitrogen, climate and water. Provinces are likewise seeking robust substantiation of emission reductions at farm level. In principle, the core KPI set could provide the measurement basis for this, provided that the KPIs are legally anchored and established with sufficient accuracy.
This requires clear legal standards regarding precision and assurance. With such requirements in place, KPI calculations can be further refined, for example through substantiation with emission measurements, and the necessary assurance mechanisms can be organised. More broadly, KPIs can also play an important role in substantiating emission reductions at regional or national level.
Data, standardisation and governance
An important lesson from the project is that broad application is only possible with further automation. Data flows from parcel registrations, satellite imagery, farm administrations and sensors need to be better utilised. The researchers advocate a layered data architecture in which data collection, calculation modules and dashboards are separated. Open and centrally managed calculation rules should prevent multiple versions of KPI calculations from emerging, which could undermine trust.
Reijs explains: "Complete uniformity across all applications is neither feasible nor necessary in practice, but far reaching harmonisation, particularly in the data and calculation layers of KPI assessments, is essential to reduce administrative burdens and ensure comparability. This requires clear governance, with public and private parties jointly agreeing on definitions, legal safeguards and further development."
Next steps
The researchers emphasise that further development and validation remain necessary to demonstrate that improved KPI scores actually lead to the achievement of sustainability goals. Expansion to other agricultural sectors is also desirable.
According to the researchers, the core KPI set provides a solid foundation for measuring performance more consistently and for steering Dutch agriculture more strongly on what farmers achieve, rather than on how they achieve it.
Read the article: https://doi.org/10.18174/710594
