Special harvest determination
Performance specification
The Special Crop and Quality Evaluation (BEE), is an essential part of the information system on agricultural production required for agricultural and economic policy, business and market management as well as ecological and scientific purposes, in particular for a region- and species-specific overview of the level of yields per hectare and domestic production volumes for cereals and potatoes. Since 2005, winter rape has also been the subject of the BEE in the majority of countries.
The Special Crop Evaluation (BEE) is carried out annually in Hesse for cereals, winter rape and other selected crops, such as potatoes.
Its task is to provide exact information on the quantity and quality of the harvest of selected crops at an early stage for the state of Hesse, but also nationwide. The required information is obtained by evaluating representative yield determinations, the number of which is adjusted to the extent and regional distribution of the cultivated areas.
The necessity of the BEE arises from the following contexts:
- Cereals, rapeseed and potatoes occupy a large part of the arable land in Germany and form the raw material basis for the production of food and animal feed as well as for material and energy use in the non-food sector. A quantitatively and qualitatively satisfactory supply requires sufficient market transparency.
- Through its contribution to market information, the BEE counteracts extreme price developments that are in the interest of neither producers nor consumers.
- In the interest of precautionary consumer protection, the BEE provides information on the contamination of grain with substances that are not desirable for health.
The basis of the survey is Section 47 of the Agricultural Statistics Act in the new version of 17 December 2009. This Act, in conjunction with the Federal Statistics Act of 22 January 1987, simultaneously ensures that the survey results may only be used for statistical purposes. Disadvantages for the survey farms, which are selected at random, are thus excluded.