In evaluation of soil quality for agricultural use, soil structure is one of the most important properties, which is influenced not only by climate, biological activity, and management practices but also by mechanical and physico-chemical forces acting in the soil. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of conventional agricultural management on the structure and microstructure of a Latossolo Vermelho distroférrico típico (Rhodic Hapludox) in an experimental area planted to maize. Soil morphology was described using the crop profile method by identifying the distinct structural volumes called Morphologically Homogeneous Units (MHUs). For comparison, we also described a profile in an adjacent area without agricultural use and under natural regrowth referred to as Memory. We took undisturbed samples from the main MHUs so as to form thin sections and blocks of soil for micromorphological and micromorphometrical analyses. Results from the application of the crop profile method showed the occurrence of the following structural types: loose (L), fragmented (F) and continuous (C) in both profiles analyzed. In the Memory soil profile, the fragmented structures were classified as Fptμ∆+tf and Fmt∆μ, whose micromorphology shows an enaulic-porphyric (porous) relative distribution with a great deal of biological activity as indicated by the presence of vughs and channels. Lower down, from 0.20 to 0.35 m, there was a continuous soil volume (sub-type C∆μ), with a subangular block microstructure and an enaulic-porphyric relative distribution, though in this case more compact and with aggregate