Spatial management of agricultural parcels in the context of direct payments

Dynamics of changes in the Polish agriculture was undoubtedly affected the most by Poland's accession to the European Union. During the first years of the membership the EU agricultural policy based mainly on supporting economic development of agricultural farms in the new member states. After the introduction of Rural Development Policy (RDP) for the years 2007-2013, greater emphasis was put on the natural environment protection, rural development but also on the measures for farm support. The amount of money allocated to this objective in-creased but simultaneously the regulations concerning the requirements a farmer must fulfil to get the payment were tightened.Yearly changeability of cropping structure and acreage causes numerous troubles for farmers who apply for direct payments but also to farms implementing modernization projects because they have to makes yearly reporting concerning cropping structure for ARMA. At present, in order to obtain regional, national or EU subventions agricultural holding should submit annual reports of its agricultural activity. The paper suggests the use of GIS techniques to conduct spatial registration of agricultural parcels included in the crop rotation of the farm production. The created database will facilitate an analysis of agricultural farm production providing the information necessary for reporting required for direct payments. The farm where the investigations were conducted is situated in the Łódzkie voivodeship. Apart from agrifood industry, agriculture is the main specialization of this region.