On 12 June 2026, a meeting of the IACS Data Community of Practice took place in Vienna, organised as part of the Europe-LAND project. The Institute of Geography of the Slovak Academy of Sciences also played an active role in the event, with Tomáš Goga delivering an invited lecture focusing on the assessment of abandoned agricultural land in Slovakia using IACS data.
The event was dedicated to the exchange of knowledge, the development of cooperation and discussion on the possibilities for using data from the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) in research, public administration and in support of European policies.
The meeting followed on from the Europe-LAND project’s general assembly and brought together project partners with members of the wider IACS community. The programme opened with short presentations by new members of the community, who outlined their ongoing research activities, the specialist focus of their respective institutions and opportunities for further collaboration.
As part of the technical programme, current research topics on the use of IACS data were presented, particularly in crop diversity assessment, agricultural typologies, and the identification of abandoned agricultural land. Discussions also addressed the broader significance of this data in supporting European policies on agriculture, landscape planning, biodiversity and sustainable land use.
The concluding discussions centred on the challenges associated with access to IACS data, and their harmonisation and standardisation across different countries. Questions were also raised regarding future funding opportunities and the further development of cooperation within the IACS Data Community of Practice.
The Institute of Geography of the Slovak Academy of Sciences’ participation in the event confirmed the importance of the Institute’s long-term work with spatial data, administrative agricultural data and their use in assessing landscape changes. The invited presentation also highlighted the potential of IACS data in identifying abandoned farmland
The full text of the press release is available on the Europe-LAND project website.
