MODERN technology mapping of land could fall flat with farmers who find their property "shrinking", a leading MEP has warned.
Yorkshire MEP Timothy Kirkhope said there were serious financial drawbacks with the new European Commission legislation, requiring land to be measured with up-to-date digital technology by 2005.
The Rural Payments Agency is building a Rural Land Registry, to hold digital maps of all Integrated Administration and Control Systems land parcels across the country.
Farmers are finding discrepancies in their land areas because the modern technology assumes every field has a flat surface.
Loss of forage or arable area due to incorrect mapping could give rise to problems in the future, following de-coupling, where producers need to maintain the right number of hectares to claim their single farm payments.
"As with any new system there are winners and losers. In some cases where fields are very undulating, with steep slopes, significant areas can be lost by digital mapping," said Mr Kirkhope.
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