TAPE Implementation Phases
TAPELINE project is closely linked to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) through the use and further development of the TAPE tool (Tool for Agroecology Performance Evaluation). This tool, originally created by FAO, is a global framework designed to assess the environmental, social, and economic performance of agroecological systems. TAPELINE applies and adapts this methodology in European territories to better understand and measure agroecological transitions at the territorial level.
“What is TAPE?”
Recognizing the need for harmonized and comparable evidence on agroecology and its performance and answering to a formal request from its governing bodies, the FAO developed the Tool for Agroecology Performance Evaluation (TAPE) in 2019 in collaboration with numerous partners, through global and regional consultations held between 2014 and 2018. The pilot phase of TAPE took place from 2019 until 2023. Building on this experience, the TAPE+ project, starting in 2024 and funded by the European Commission, allows to enhance the tool with refined metrics and new digital features to improve usability.
TAPE provides a practical, stepbystep and internationally harmonized method to generate evidence, identify priorities, and guide the transition toward more resilient and sustainable food systems. Applicable to all types of producers and production systems, it combines four interconnected levels of analysis:
- the agroecosystem, assessing practices, ecologicalprocesses and performance;
- the household, shaping resource access, labor, decisionmaking and food security;
- the landscape, capturing ecological dynamics beyond the farm;
- and the institutional and market environment, reflecting the influence of organizations, services, value chains and public policies.
Grounded in the 10 Elements of Agroecology, TAPE offers a holistic understanding of how production systems function. It further evaluates five sustainability dimensions aligned with the SDGs—Governance, Economy, Environment, Health and Nutrition, and Society and Culture—providing governments and institutions with a comprehensive, multidimensional picture of agricultural performance.
The step-wise approach of the FAO’s TAPE Tool
TAPE follows a simple but comprehensive stepwise process made up of four interconnected steps.
You can explore all the steps by clicking on the document below.
This document presents the consolidated indicator grids for TAPE Step 1 (Characterization of Agroecological Transition) and Step 2 (Performance Assessment). While TAPE Step 1 clarifies how advanced the systems assessed (e.g. farms, households, territories) are in their transition to agroecology, TAPE Step 2 aims to assess their performance across the key dimensions considered relevant to sustainable food and agriculture and to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in relation to agroecology.
- Step 0 – Contextualization (before the survey):
A preparatory phase combining desk research, stakeholder consultations, adaptation to local contexts, enumerator training and a pilot survey. It ensures a clear sampling strategy, relevant farm typologies and a robust datacollection plan. This step can be adapted for rapid or indepth assessments.
- Step 1 – Characterization of the Agroecological Transition (CAET):
Using 26 indices linked to the 10 Elements of Agroecology, TAPE evaluates each household’s level of agroecological adoption, offering an initial snapshot of their transition status.
- Step 2 – Core Criteria of Performance:
TAPE gathers quantitative data across environmental, social, economic, health and nutrition, and governance dimensions. Core indicators ensure globally comparable evidence.
- Step 3 – Participatory analysis and restitution:
Results are interpreted with the farmers and their community, validating the scaling of findings from farm to territory and highlighting context-specific factors influencing performance.
TAPE tool in TAPELINE Project
TAPELINE builds on the FAO’s TAPE (Tool for Agroecology Performance Evaluation), applying and adapting this international framework in five European territories to assess agroecological performance and co-design strategies for sustainable farming systems.