LPIS - land parcel identification system

LPIS (Land Parcel Identification System) is the Czech register of agricultural land use under Act No. 252/1997 Coll. on Agriculture. It is a public administration information system managed by the Ministry of Agriculture and updated by the State Agricultural Intervention Fund (SZIF). It is used mainly to check applications for farm subsidies and for inspections, and also, for example, to register organic farming. A public version (pLPIS) has been available since 2009.

How to read the data

• A land block is a continuous area of farmland, divided into parcel blocks of at least 0.01 ha.
• Each parcel block has one user and one crop category, such as standard arable land, permanent grassland (meadows and pastures), orchard or vineyard.
• The register also records the area, organic farming status and other data, such as the erosion risk category (severely, moderately or not at risk).
• The register also contains land register data, and historical land drainage data can be downloaded from its portal.

What it means for a buyer

LPIS shows what is actually grown around the house, how large the surrounding fields are and whether slopes above the house are prone to erosion. Unlike the land register, which records ownership and land type, LPIS shows how the land is really used, so the two need not match. Soil quality itself is described by the BPEJ code.

Watch out for

LPIS covers only land that someone farms and that is entered in the register; a garden next to a house may therefore be missing. The user of a parcel block need not be the owner of the land. If the user is a private individual, their name is personal data; nmvt property websites therefore do not show farmers' names.

Does LPIS data change?

Yes. The register is updated continuously and crops change with the crop rotation. Data are valid as of the date they were displayed.