{"id":"AIBD-1034","title":"European Court of Auditors finds that checks by monitoring with Sentinel satellite data helped the Flemish paying agency prevent overpayments","summary":"The European Court of Auditors found that the paying agency of Flanders, like Malta's, used satellite checks by monitoring to prevent a number of overpayments of EU farm aid.","date_observed":"2021-10-26","date_basis":"source publication","date_precision":"day","benefit_status":"reported","source_collection":null,"source_entry":null,"account":"Since 2018, paying agencies of the EU's common agricultural policy may check aid claims by monitoring with Sentinel satellite data. On 28 January 2020, the European Court of Auditors described the method of the paying agency of Belgium (Flanders) in a special report. An artificial intelligence algorithm, trained on series of Sentinel 1 and 2 images and on farmers' declarations, predicts each parcel's class. Parcels whose predicted class does not match the declaration get a field visit. The agency reported that it monitored 397,568 parcels in 2019 and inspected 1.0% of them in the field. In its annual report for 2020, published on 26 October 2021, the Court reviewed checks by monitoring at two paying agencies. They covered the basic payment scheme in Flanders and coupled support for tomato farmers in Malta. The Court found that both agencies had used the checks to prevent a number of overpayments. It gives no count or amount. Malta's system compares crop growth markers with an expected curve. The Court does not describe it as trained on data.","category":"program","unexpected":false,"purpose":"The paying agency of Belgium (Flanders) built its checks by monitoring to verify from Sentinel satellite images whether each declared parcel is used as the farmer declared.","system":"Checks by monitoring of the paying agency of Belgium (Flanders), with an artificial intelligence algorithm trained on Sentinel 1 and 2 image time series","model_version":null,"developer":"The paying agency of Belgium (Flanders), following technical guidelines from the European Commission's Joint Research Centre","deployer":"The paying agency of Belgium (Flanders), for the basic payment scheme","location":"Flanders, Belgium","domain":"Agriculture (control of EU farm aid claims)","segment":null,"benefit_type":"Reduced Risk","work_activities":["4.A.2.a.3","4.A.1.b.1","4.A.1.a.2"],"taxonomy_note":null,"registry_ids":{},"ratings":[{"group":"organizational","depth":null,"reason":"The Court found that the checks prevented overpayments but gives no count or amount."}],"ai_role":{"status":"unassessed","statement":"The Court reports prevented overpayments for the two agencies together and compares no claims checked without monitoring. Its special report of 2020 describes the Flemish algorithm as artificial intelligence trained on Sentinel images and farmers' declarations. The annual report describes the approach only as automated processes based on Sentinel data."},"evidence":[{"kind":"audit report","citation":"European Court of Auditors. 2020 annual reports on the implementation of the EU budget for the 2020 financial year, Chapter 6 'Natural resources', paragraph 6.20 and Box 6.3. Published 26 October 2021.","title":"2020 annual reports on the implementation of the EU budget for the 2020 financial year","url":"https://www.eca.europa.eu/Lists/ECADocuments/annualreports-2020/annualreports-2020_EN.pdf","date":"2021-10-26","written_by":"independent","quote":"During our 2020 Statement of Assurance work, we reviewed two paying agencies' use of checks by monitoring, focusing on the voluntary coupled support scheme for tomato farmers in Malta and the basic payment scheme in Belgium (Flanders). We found that these paying agencies had used checks by monitoring to prevent a number of overpayments."},{"kind":"audit report","citation":"European Court of Auditors. Special report 04/2020: Using new imaging technologies to monitor the Common Agricultural Policy: steady progress overall, but slower for climate and environment monitoring. Box 1 and Table 3. 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Published 28 January 2020.","title":"Using new imaging technologies to monitor the Common Agricultural Policy: steady progress overall, but slower for climate and environment monitoring","url":"https://www.eca.europa.eu/Lists/ECADocuments/SR20_04/SR_New_technologies_in_agri-monitoring_EN.pdf","date":"2020-01-28","written_by":"independent","quote":"An artificial intelligence algorithm, trained using a time series of Sentinel 1 and 2 images (in combination with the information contained in the farmers’ declarations), predicts the probability that each parcel belongs to one of five classes (arable land, grassland, leguminous crops, fallow and non-eligible).","supports_benefit":false}]}},"provenance":{"kind":"legacy_record","basis":"Editorial assignment.","record_fields":["evidence"],"source_refs":[]},"review_state":"record_mapped","coverage":"partial"},"sources[].upstream_sources":{"state":"unresolved","provenance":{"kind":"curatorial","basis":"Editorial assignment.","record_fields":[],"source_refs":[]},"reason":"This is an explicit unresolved assignment: the sources on record do not settle this question.","review_state":"not_assessed","coverage":"partial"},"strategic_assessments[]":{"state":"unresolved","review_state":"not_assessed","coverage":"partial","family":"strategic assessments"},"summary":{"state":"value_present","value":{"kind":"record_fields","fields":{"summary":"The European Court of Auditors found that the paying agency of Flanders, like Malta's, used satellite checks by monitoring to prevent a number of overpayments of EU farm aid.","account":"Since 2018, paying agencies of the EU's common agricultural policy may check aid claims by monitoring with Sentinel satellite data. On 28 January 2020, the European Court of Auditors described the method of the paying agency of Belgium (Flanders) in a special report. An artificial intelligence algorithm, trained on series of Sentinel 1 and 2 images and on farmers' declarations, predicts each parcel's class. Parcels whose predicted class does not match the declaration get a field visit. The agency reported that it monitored 397,568 parcels in 2019 and inspected 1.0% of them in the field. In its annual report for 2020, published on 26 October 2021, the Court reviewed checks by monitoring at two paying agencies. They covered the basic payment scheme in Flanders and coupled support for tomato farmers in Malta. The Court found that both agencies had used the checks to prevent a number of overpayments. It gives no count or amount. Malta's system compares crop growth markers with an expected curve. The Court does not describe it as trained on data."}},"provenance":{"kind":"legacy_record","basis":"Editorial assignment.","record_fields":["summary","account"],"source_refs":[]},"review_state":"record_mapped","coverage":"partial"},"systems[].autonomy_permissions":{"state":"unresolved","provenance":{"kind":"curatorial","basis":"Editorial assignment.","record_fields":[],"source_refs":[]},"reason":"This is an explicit unresolved assignment: the sources on record do not settle this question.","review_state":"not_assessed","coverage":"partial"},"systems[].component_role":{"state":"unresolved","provenance":{"kind":"curatorial","basis":"Editorial assignment.","record_fields":[],"source_refs":[]},"reason":"This is an explicit unresolved assignment: the sources on record do not settle this question.","review_state":"not_assessed","coverage":"partial"},"systems[].deployment_configuration":{"state":"unresolved","provenance":{"kind":"curatorial","basis":"Editorial assignment.","record_fields":[],"source_refs":[]},"reason":"This is an explicit unresolved assignment: the sources on record do not settle this question.","review_state":"not_assessed","coverage":"partial"},"systems[].inputs_outputs":{"state":"unresolved","provenance":{"kind":"curatorial","basis":"Editorial assignment.","record_fields":[],"source_refs":[]},"reason":"This is an explicit unresolved assignment: the sources on record do not settle this question.","review_state":"not_assessed","coverage":"partial"},"systems[].model_name":{"state":"unresolved","provenance":{"kind":"curatorial","basis":"Editorial assignment.","record_fields":[],"source_refs":[]},"reason":"This is an explicit unresolved assignment: the sources on record do not settle this question.","review_state":"not_assessed","coverage":"partial"},"systems[].model_version":{"state":"unresolved","provenance":{"kind":"curatorial","basis":"Editorial assignment.","record_fields":[],"source_refs":[]},"reason":"This is an explicit unresolved assignment: the sources on record do not settle this question.","review_state":"not_assessed","coverage":"partial"},"systems[].product_name":{"state":"value_present","value":{"kind":"record_fields","fields":{"system":"Checks by monitoring of the paying agency of Belgium (Flanders), with an artificial intelligence algorithm trained on Sentinel 1 and 2 image time series"}},"provenance":{"kind":"legacy_record","basis":"Editorial assignment.","record_fields":["system"],"source_refs":[]},"review_state":"record_mapped","coverage":"partial"},"systems[].provider":{"state":"unresolved","provenance":{"kind":"curatorial","basis":"Editorial assignment.","record_fields":[],"source_refs":[]},"reason":"This is an explicit unresolved assignment: the sources on record do not settle this question.","review_state":"not_assessed","coverage":"partial"},"taxonomy_crosswalks[]":{"state":"unresolved","provenance":{"kind":"curatorial","basis":"Editorial assignment.","record_fields":[],"source_refs":[]},"reason":"This is an explicit unresolved assignment: the sources on record do not settle this question.","review_state":"not_assessed","coverage":"partial"},"title":{"state":"value_present","value":{"kind":"record_fields","fields":{"title":"European Court of Auditors finds that checks by monitoring with Sentinel satellite data helped the Flemish paying agency prevent overpayments","headline":"*Checks by monitoring* help Flanders prevent overpayments of farm aid"}},"provenance":{"kind":"legacy_record","basis":"Editorial assignment.","record_fields":["title","headline"],"source_refs":[]},"review_state":"record_mapped","coverage":"partial"},"version":{"state":"value_present","value":{"kind":"identifiers","identifiers":["e0f634638290d47ce9027a711c1efc726881a054675f2a80fbc8ecdbc1dae2c7"],"role":"SHA-256 of the complete public record and its assessments"},"provenance":{"kind":"curatorial","basis":"SHA-256 of the public record, its assessments, and its displayed answers and notes, excluding its own identifier and the derived coverage summary.","record_fields":[],"source_refs":[]},"review_state":"record_mapped","coverage":"complete"},"workflow":{"state":"value_present","value":{"kind":"record_fields","fields":{"account":"Since 2018, paying agencies of the EU's common agricultural policy may check aid claims by monitoring with Sentinel satellite data. On 28 January 2020, the European Court of Auditors described the method of the paying agency of Belgium (Flanders) in a special report. An artificial intelligence algorithm, trained on series of Sentinel 1 and 2 images and on farmers' declarations, predicts each parcel's class. Parcels whose predicted class does not match the declaration get a field visit. The agency reported that it monitored 397,568 parcels in 2019 and inspected 1.0% of them in the field. In its annual report for 2020, published on 26 October 2021, the Court reviewed checks by monitoring at two paying agencies. They covered the basic payment scheme in Flanders and coupled support for tomato farmers in Malta. The Court found that both agencies had used the checks to prevent a number of overpayments. It gives no count or amount. Malta's system compares crop growth markers with an expected curve. The Court does not describe it as trained on data.","replication":{"produced_by":["An algorithm trained on Sentinel 1 and 2 image series and farmers' declarations predicted whether each parcel was arable land, grassland, leguminous crops, fallow or non-eligible.","Parcels that did not match the declaration got a field visit.","Inconclusive parcels were checked on screen first and visited if needed."],"must_hold":["Every eligibility criterion of the scheme must be checkable from satellite images, since other criteria still need on-the-spot checks of a sample of farmers.","Small parcels need other data or follow-up, since Sentinel images give too few pixels for them."],"echoes":[]}}},"provenance":{"kind":"legacy_record","basis":"Editorial assignment.","record_fields":["account","replication"],"source_refs":[]},"review_state":"record_mapped","coverage":"partial"}},"summary":{"total":91,"addressed":91,"known":27,"reviewed":2,"reviewed_complete":2,"reviewed_partial":0,"record_mapped":25,"review_not_assessed":64,"not_assessed":0,"complete":false,"by_state":{"value_present":27,"not_reported":0,"unresolved":64,"not_assessed":0,"not_applicable":0,"withheld":0,"source_unavailable":0}}},"presentation_version":"2c4faffe3dd28c338f1be16cc00b3b945a8b353b8a05790ca31afa12b5ca7110"}