Under the slogan “fishing for data” 20 participants from 10 countries out of Europe and Africa met for the agri benchmark Fish training on the typical farm approach from February 26th – 27th, 2019 in Bremerhaven at the Thünen-Institute.
The training started with an introduction of the typical farm theory in agricultural research with a special focus on the development in U.S.A. Afterwards Cornelia Kreiß and Tobias Lasner described diverse fields of applications of the approach and explained the method in details. The participants dealt with a wide range of examples considering extensive carp grow-outs in Bavaria, salmon net cages in Ireland, cost-benefit-calculations of the implementation of innovative farming techniques or the impacts of climate change on farm level. Beside intensive group work, an excursion to the most modern experimental recirculating aquaculture system in Europe had been an additional highlight.
The workshop took place against the background of the nowadays need for proven and practical methods of economic data collection. Beside agri benchmark partners, participants from the 
Data Collection Framework of the European Union (DCF) and the Horizon 2020 project Green Aquaculture Intensification (GAIN) participated successfully.
The next agri benchmark Fish training will take place in Prague at November 6th, 2019.
From February 27th – March 1st, 2018, the special session “agri benchmark meets CERES” took place at the Thünen-Institutes of Fisheries Ecology and Sea Fisheries in Hamburg. Experts from EU Horizon 2020 Project Climate Change and European Aquatic Resources (CERES) discussed typical farm and vessel datasets together with the agri benchmark Fish network members and the coordination team. The special focus was on salmonids (trout and salmon), seabass and seabream production systems as well as on cod and mixed fisheries vessels.
Later on in the CERES project progression, the agri benchmark datasets will be analysed according to three scenarios reflecting the impacts of climate change towards a variety of aquatic production systems on farm and vessel level in the light of environmental changes as well as different pre-defined future scenarios on society, economy and policy.
In September 2015, the first agri benchmark workshop on Fish took place at the Thünen Institutes of Fisheries Ecology and Sea Fisheries in Hamburg.
Following two years of research, the workshop participants discussed the results of a trout pilot study. 20 researchers and fish farmers from Europe, the Near and Middle East compared country reports and datasets of trout farms from different countries.
The group also visited two nearby trout farms at the Luneburg Heath. On site, potentials and drawbacks of organic fish farming and recirculated aquaculture systems were discussed with farm managers.
