Agri-food Data Portal tips & tricks
Useful information for Agri-food portal users.
About this page
This page provides general information about the data and visuals on the Agri-food Data Portal, including tips on how to use selection filters and download data.
Jump to the section you are most interested in by following the links below:
Available datasets
The Agri-food Data Portal, managed by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development, serves as a comprehensive source of information on both national and European agriculture and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). It offers a range of tools and resources, including the Sustainability Compass, which assesses the sustainability performance of EU agriculture, and the Ukraine Spotlight, which analyzes economic consequences of events such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Additionally, the portal provides market data, economic reports, geoportals for spatial data access, information on EU financing related to agriculture, country factsheets, and datasets concerning food supply and security.
An interactive tool which brings together 20 key performance indicators for the three dimensions of sustainability in agriculture and rural areas.
A single, long webpage that organizes information about the influence of the war in Ukraine with the availability and prices of food.
A large collection of apps offering detailed and up-to-the-minute data on specific aspects of the markets for agricultural products in Europe. The core datasets concern trade, prices and production volumes in 13 agricultural sectors.
A variety of apps highlighting success criteria by which the Common Agricultural Policy may be measured, from 3 perspectives: CMEF indicators (2014-2022), CAP Strategic Plans (2023-2027) and general context indicators.
A variety of apps spotlighting productivity, profitability, subsidies, economic structure and finances of agricultural enterprises in the EU.
A set of links to the geographic information portals of the Member States where spatial data is published in the context of the Integrated administration and control system (IACS).
A few apps about the Agriculture and Rural Development heading in the EU budget showing how much money is spent on market measures, direct support and rural development over the years.
A single, long webpage that organizes information about CMEF indicators for a single Member State, compared to the European Union as a whole.
Two rich apps and a set of external links to monitor risks associated with food crises including supply disruptions and price shocks.
Functionalities and features
While some pages of the Agri-food Data Portal are there only to help you navigate the information, most visuals on the portal fall into a few categories. Below are some examples of apps that have been enhanced with a visually guided tour that explains their functionality and features.
Standard visualisation
Guided tour of a standard visualisation using as example the app that shows prices of categories and qualities of beef.
Context indicators visualisation
Guided tour of a CMEF context indicators visualisation on agricultural area.
Selecting data
Data selectors can be found below the page title. Some selectors force single-selection, but others may permit a selection that combines multiple Member States, products etc.
Items in a multiple-selection list are colour-coded:
- All rows with a white background: no specific selection done. In principle, all possible data are included
- White text on a dark green background and a tick: data selected
- Black text on a light grey background: data currently not selected but available for additional selection
- White text on a dark grey background: data currently unavailable (cannot be added to the selection) because they are incompatible with selections made in other selectors.
Note that:
- Criteria are cumulative, e.g., availability of data for a specific Member State may depend on the selected product
- Selecting a row with a dark grey background (data unavailable), may result in some or all of the other selections to be cancelled in order to provide you with some data
- At any moment, the thin coloured horizontal line under each selector indicates how many values are selected (using the same green - light grey - dark grey colour codes as for the rows of the drop down lists)
To select more than one year, code, product,…:
- Just click on each year, code or product you want to select. Click a second time to un-select a previously selected item
- Type the first letters or digits followed by “Enter” to select a range of categories, codes,…
Finally, clicking the three dots icon within the filter top section, reveals a set of advanced filtering options:
- Select all: Allows users to select all available values within a field with a single click, facilitating comprehensive data exploration.
- Select possible: Permits users to select values that are logically possible based on existing selections, aiding in focused analysis of potential scenarios.
- Select alternative: Enables users to toggle between selecting and deselecting alternate values within a field, providing flexibility in data analysis.
- Select excluded: Allows users to select values that are currently excluded from the analysis, providing insights into overlooked data points.
Download
You have several options to download data from the portal:
- 1Download to PDF button -
- most markets apps include this functionality providing you a PDF file of the current view “as is”. - 2Context menu button - if your device has a mouse or equivalent, right clicking on a graph, map or table provides you with the following options:
View data is not a download option, but allows you to switch to a tabular view instead of a graphical one.
Export as an image provides you with a snapshot of the visible content of the chart.
Export as PDF gives a PDF file of the data shown in the view, taking into account the current data selection.
Export data gives an Excel file of the data shown in the view, taking into account the current data selection.
- 3Bulk download - available for some visualisations (eg Pigmeat carcasses prices or in the Data Explorer views of trade visualisations),
allowing you to download all data at once in CSV format (compatible with your favourite spreadsheet software) regardless of the current selection.
Some of these CSV files have a large number of lines, perhaps too large to be opened in full in a general-purpose tool like MS Excel. Either look for a different tool, or use the right-click method with the appropriate selection.
API
An API, or Application Programming Interface, serves as a bridge between computer programs, enabling seamless communication in a machine-to-machine interface.
The Agri-food Data API specifically provides access to the portal's database via a set of URLs, formatted in JSON for computer consumption.
Unlike graphical user interfaces, this interface caters to programmatic interactions. By utilizing filtering parameters within query URLs,
users can precisely retrieve desired data, such as Portuguese beef prices from specific timeframes and categories.
This allows you to automate updated and personalised visualisations of our data
into your preferred software, by configuring a purpose-built URL as explained in this video tutorial.
Utilizing the API within spreadsheet applications offers a straightforward approach, allowing users to fetch data directly into their preferred tools. However, it's essential to note the CORS policy, which safeguards against cross-scripting attacks. Developers can navigate this by implementing proxy services, ensuring seamless data access while mitigating security risks. Whether as a developer or end-user, understanding and adhering to these protocols is crucial for effective and secure data utilization.
The documentation explaining how the interface works is available here.
Mobile support
Positioned at the top of every markets page for easy access, this switcher button seamlessly transitions all visualisations to match mobile screen resolutions with a simple click. Users can effortlessly toggle back to desktop mode with another press, ensuring a smooth and adaptable browsing experience.
Note that this functionality is used on the markets pillar and all of its subpages (sector pages, prices, production, trade, short term outlook). When loaded, the vizualisations will adapt to the available resolution, but the user can change that through the switcher button.
