The one-day pre-conference" Improving statistics and data for organic supply chain transparency" at the Organic World Congress (OWC) will take place on September 22, 2020 in Rennes. It covers the following themes:

• Innovative approaches to land area and production data collection for more transparency and real-time data 
• New developments in the field of international trade data
• Fraud detection tools

The pre-conference consists of several keynote presentations followed by workshops, in which recommendations are elaborated. To share the results of the pre-conference with a broader audience, the main results will also be presented in the stakeholder forum of the OWC.

This pre-conference is important as many new developments in the field of organic farming statistics have occurred in recent years including

• The continually improving availability of data,
• The  recent emergence of better and more international trade data for the US (the worlds' biggest market) and the European Union (the world's second-biggest market),
• The need to link these data,
• The fast-growing organic market in all parts of the world, which increases the danger of fraud

Under theme 1, "Innovative approaches to land area and production data collection for more transparency and real-time data" new tools such as parcel mapping or the use of drones and satellites are explored.

Theme 2 "New developments in the field of international trade data" looks at recent EU and US developments in the area of import data as well as export data from the perspective of developing countries.

Finally, theme 3, "Fraud detection tools," looks at certification instruments and other measures in the area detection of fraudulent actions in the organic sector.

We expect that the pre-conference will give valuable insights into current challenges and developments. As outcomes we expect recommendations to stakeholders, governments, statistical offices on tools, innovations, models, and policies to improve data availability, transparency, and fraud prevention. Furthermore, we expect the definition of next steps related to the three topics chosen and a plan for future collaboration and exchange among actors in the field of organic farming statistics.

The presentations will be made available in the format of proceedings and will be available for the conference (PDF). After the conference, a press release will be sent out. The recommendations will be posted on the websites of the organisers.

• Agence Bio, France. www.agencebio.org
• Agricultural Market Information Company AMI, Germany, www.ami-informiert.de
• FiBL - Research Institute of Organic Agriculture, Switzerland, https://statistics.fibl.org 
• IFOAM EU, Belgium, http://www.ifoam.eu
• Thünen Institute, Germany, www.thuenen.de