Summary:

Changes, occurring in agricultural production space and caused by human activities, impact the present state of farmland spatial structure. In Southern Po-land, farm plots are unfavourably shaped and excessively fragmented and, thus, they cannot be as effectively utilized as are the properly shaped plots having an optimal surface area. This actual state of spatial structure forces the necessity for performing arrangement and agricultural works with the aim to reconstruct the existing farmland system so that its prospective agricultural utilization becomes effective and brings measurable financial profits. In the paper, results of the research into the ladn configuration of plots earmarked for grassland are presented. The plots researched belong to farms situ-ated in a village of Filipowice, in the Province of Małopolska. The village studied has ca. a 980 ha area and is characterized by a high farm land fragmentation rate. A basic surface element that was taken for analysis were continuous parts of ca-dastral plots utilized using only one utilization type. The research comprised all the plots with grassland in the selected village; they belonged to the farms existing in this village. To analyse such a very large number of plots, three specialist com-puter software were applied, i.e.: „MKTopo GUTR”, „Plikpol”, and „Pole”; they utilize data from a numeric cadastre map and from a descriptive part of the digital general lands and buildings register. The technology applied allowed to obtain more than 70 features characterizing each plot analyzed. Seventeen (17) basic features ladn configuration of a plots were accurately studied. The first six (6) features determine spatial parameters of a plot, the next three (3) features refer to estimate costs of cultivating a given plot depending on the land configuration plots, the subsequent three (3) features depict the location of a plot in a village and in the farm, and the last five (5) ones characterize the farm to which a plot belongs. The research into the land configuration changeability of plots with grass-land consisted in evaluating the plain of plots by comparing individual features land configuration of plots with the values assumed to be correct or optimal. Fur-thermore, the layout of plots in the village was also analyzed, i.e. their location was assessed in relation to the farm sites and to the village centre. All the plots in the village studied were covered by the analysis performed, thus, it was possible to get a large amount of data. The detailed analysis of plots plains was performed using statistical methods; therefore, it was possible to determine basic descriptive statistics and to collate distributions of sizes of the features studied. Finally, the faulty shaped plots were isolated, the range of losses resulting from improper plots plain was determined, and the possibilities and method of correct-ing/improving the plain were indicated. The research results obtained prove the following: the land configuration of the plots studied in the village of Filipowice is inappropriate, the plot cultiva-tion costs depending on the plain are high, and it is necessary to reconstruct the existing farmland system in order to create more favourable conditions for the ag-ricultural management of farmland.