Summary:

The area structure of individual farms constitutes an essential element in-fluencing both the advisability of consolidation work and probable effects of this work. Identification of the areas where the parameters determining the area structure of farms are advantageous constitutes an essential element of the identi-fication process of the areas which meet requirements to undergo the consolidation work. The article presents a proposal of an indicator which makes it possible to evaluate the area structure of the registered units belonging to 7.1 registration group (individual farms) from the viewpoint of identification of areas which can be qualified as appropriate ones to undergo consolidation work. The need of in-troduction of such an indicator has been pointed out due to the drawbacks in evaluation of the area structure of farms on the basis of the knowledge of only the average surface of a farm in a given area. The indicator is calculated on the basis of the knowledge of the percentage participation of individual area groups of farms and to a greater extent allows for a diagnosis of obtainable results of the consolidation work. The calculations connected with determination of values of the suggested indicator have been conducted for one of the more intensely agriculturally used area of Małopolska voivodeship, which is Dąbrowski administrative district.