Agricultural Subsidy Procedures Facilitated by GIS

Agriculturalists in many developed countries rely heavily on subsidy payments to assist in maintaining viable commercial operations. In 1998, the European Union paid the equivalent of $39 billion (U.S.) to its farmers as part of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Annual operational costs for such schemes are huge, and methods to improve efficiency by even 1 percent can have profound economic benefits.

Subsidy claims have four distinct phases. The farmer first needs to be provided with the necessary information if the application is to be processed smoothly. By definition, rural areas tend to be less accessible, so information exchange can be hindered. The farmer then fills out the forms and submits them to the relevant governmental office, either the Ministry of Agriculture or the State Agricultural Commissioner's office. The claim is processed and verification is then carried out, sometimes using satellite imagery, but more often than not by field inspectors. Once the verification has been completed, payments are released to the claimants. The required communication to see this process through is great, and delays can result from misplaced or misdirected information.

The use of the Internet in rural areas has witnessed rapid growth as areas previously considered less accessible come online. To the farming community, this will become even more important. Governments now have the option to reach an increasing group of agricultural subsidy claimants via the Web. Internet sites offering advice on governmental procedures are not uncommon, and with time the departments associated with agriculture will increase their visibility. The application for subsidies can now be theoretically done online, thus saving costs for printed materials and postage. Fields are often the land unit most associated with claims, and by using ArcIMS technologies, farmers will be able to locate their field on a map service and fill in the details directly to a server. The volume of information stored on the spatial servers will necessitate a high server/client performance. ArcSDE (Spatial Database Engine) software is capable of delivering this performance. The mechanism of data transfer means that data entered by the farmer via the online claim form is automatically written to the database. This eliminates the need for data entry at the processing institution, thereby reducing costs and potential errors in data input. As many subsidy payments depend on historical land information on a parcel-by-parcel basis, this information could also be included so that rules governing the validity of claims could be built-in at the data entry level. This would indicate to the farmer when it was known that the claim in its current form would be inadmissible, thereby reducing the need to send the information back to the farmer for correction and allowing immediate correction. Although satellite imagery is used more frequently in the verification process, portable GIS technology is invaluable for field scouts. ArcPad, the mobile GIS software, can be customized to create specific forms for data input; information can then be uploaded from the field wirelessly to the central server over the Internet if necessary.

Information exchange is always a challenge throughout such a complex procedure. Using ArcIMS means that once claims have been submitted, farmers could check online using digital maps of their farmland to see what stage the process has reached. Such an enterprise GIS solution requires research, investment, and maintenance, but potential financial benefits and process efficiency would prove significant.