Further development of the German Forest Accountancy Network

Background and Objective

The FAN is the most important data source for assessing the economic situation of forestry in Germany. State, corporate and private forest entprises with a forest area of more than 200 ha can participate. Forest enterprises voluntarily provide their natural and operational key data for the respective forestry year. For the participating enterprises, this is associated with a high level of effort and usually only limited added value for the individual enterprise. As a result, the number of participants has been declining for years. In order to maintain the FAN as a reliable data source, it is therefore urgently necessary to identify possibilities for simplifying the provision of data and increasing the added value of participation for the individual enterprise. This is the goal of the collaborative project. Different sustainable options for further development of the FAN are to be elaborated and analyzed in depth. The results can be used by central decision-makers at federal, state and enterprise level as a basis of information for possible courses of action for the further development of the FAN.

Target Group

Decision-makers at federal, state and enterprise level

Approach

The joint project has the character of a feasibility study.

Data and Methods

To address the research questions, we will conduct document analyses and expert interviews on the one hand and apply various statistical analysis methods on the other.

Our Research Questions

The subproject being worked on at the TI-WF is primarily concerned with the following questions:

• What information is currently needed from the FAN and what will be needed in the foreseeable future?
• Where is there potential for simplifying the survey content?
• What effects would a change in the extrapolation procedure have?

Preliminary Results

Goal is to develop options for action to further develop the FAN as a sustainable data source.

Links and Downloads

Projectsite:

• Forest Accountancy Data Network of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture | Permanent task