In the author's view, at the outset of the 21st century Poland's agriculture is facing a triple dilemma and the manner of resolving it will determine the agriculture's future and, consequently, the country's economy as a whole. What has occurred is a blockade of internal factors of the development of agriculture, i.e.those inherent in the systemic transformation policies. Development priorities are being re-arranged in view of the expected accession of Poland to the European Union. Similar to other countries, Poland is facing globalization problems. Against such background the author analyzes the new situation of agriculture in the context of national economy paying special attention to structural unemployment in agriculture, the aggravation of income disparities, blockades of investment processes and the reduced use of resources (land and labour). The author states that the principal cause of the mounting crisis in agriculture is its faulty positioning of the sector in the entire economy. He favours an active pro-income policy in agriculture enabling the farmer to take on a larger share of self-financing for development.

Agricultural policy and the rural development policy belongs among the most expensive and most controversial elements of functioning of the EU member states. A large portion of controversies and misunderstandings results from imperfections of the public discourse on matters of villages and agriculture. The role of agriculture and rural areas in the functioning of modern societies is changing and the group of stakeholders of these areas' development is now in principle covering the entire society. In post-socialist countries no institutions were formed and no forms of social discourse evolved to discuss the desirable lines of rural and agriculture development and the forms of public support for such development. The most important attempt at institutionalization of such discourse was made in l999 in Poland by elaboration of a document entitle "The Pact for Agriculture and Rural Areas". The idea of the pact, the process of work on it and the causes of failure are described in this paper. After Poland's joining the European Union a major part of problems tackled by the discourse on rural development in Poland will be linked with analogous discourse, but this time at the level of the entire Union.

Poland's accession to the European Union on the 1st May 2004 will not put an end to our problems but it will mark the beginning of profound changes. These changes will also involve thinking and acting in long-term perspective. The lack of a clear and precise strategy for the development of the village and rural territories, taking into account both the specificity of Poland and the interests of Polish farmers, may make it difficult to take full advantage of the civilisational impulse for the Polish economy in the form of Poland's integration with the European Union.

The current stage of socio-economic transformation of the Polish village is deepening existing spatial differentiation despite the fact that regional policy has the instruments to counteract this process. In other words, the existing instruments are not neutralising the tendency to increasing differentiation. On the other hand, one very important factor which may help to overcome this overall trend is the model of local governance, its continuity, the ability of local communities to organise themselves into various institutions which can act as partners for local self-governments (by verbalising their various group interests).

This article analyses changes in the size and economic activity of the farm population in 1996-2000. The analysis is based on the results of two agricultural censuses carried out at that time. The former one was a general census and the latter one was a representative census. The following major changes were detected. The number of farms (with an agricultural area of over one hectare) diminished by 8% and their average area increased from 7.0 hectares to 7.2 hectares in the period between the two censuses. The population diminished at a steeper rate than the number of farms. This can largely be attributed to the drop in average number of farmer family members and especially in the number of children. Analysis of the structure of the adult population by economic activity revealed three major types of change: a drop in the proportion of the population working exclusively or mainly on the farm from about 60% to about 52%; stabilisation of the proportion of the population working exclusively or mainly elsewhere (off their own farms) at about 22%; increase of the proportion of the non-working population from about 17% to about 24% (data for farms larger than one hectare). The last part of the article analyses the determinants of the changes in economic activity of the farming population, with special emphasis on the effect of educational development, the situation on the labour market and factors relating to the retirement of farmers.

The fundamental condition of the development of agriculture in Poland is making farmers aware of the inevitable changes and perfection needes. Some farmers, however, perceive them as yet another "harm" that is being done to farmers and agriculture. Yet they should be regarded as another stage of the Polish agriculture development, at which the old models do not match the current standards and requirements of the more and more competitive market.

This paper presents some of the problems relating to Polish integration with the European Union. The condition of Polish agriculture is compared with the condition of agriculture in EU member states. The expected benefits and difficulties for Polish farmers in the new situation are discussed.

The intensification of active postures of village inhabitants and rise of new initiatives, both past and present, provide an response to actual needs most frequently being a reaction triggered by the appearance of external threats. The enterprises described above are but a portion of examples of initiatives in favour of activisation of village inhabitants. It should be expected that the change in the village following from the integration into the European Union will constitute a necessity for new initiatives and action both in the economic and social spheres as well in the field of village identity and culture.

The article analyzes participation of rural young people in the overall secondary education in Poland in 1990s. Attempted is the appraisal of the efficiency of the education system reform as implemented since 1999. One of its declared goals was to improve education opportunities for the rural youth. The data presented in the text indicate that the objective probably will not be reached as the the new education system lacks in solutions neutralizing the factors that for a long time now have been leading to a lower level of education obtained by the rural youth.

The systemic transformations which were undertaken and are still under way in Polish agriculture are rather specific in that, compared with other post-communist countries, the structure of our agriculture has been predominantly private, with a significant proportion of state-owned farms and very few farming co-operatives. Hence the sector structure of agriculture in Poland did not necessitate rapid privatisation. Neither did the situation on the farm produce market (surplus supply), the land market (negligible demand) or the capital market (lack of capital in private farming and difficulties in its accession). Despite these adverse circumstances, state-owned farms were swiftly privatised. By means of one authoritative, legal-administrative act, all state-owned farms were liquidated and their assets and effects were transferred to the private sector where they were to enlarge and reinforce family-owned farms. Whether or not this was a wise decision is still the object of debate. Experience has shown that, despite the considerable economic and social costs of this transfer, the assumed and debatable goals have not been achieved. Although liquidation of state-owned farms and disposal of their farmland has enlarged the private sector in Polish agriculture, it has not (as was to be predicted) seriously improved the structure of small-producers' peasant husbandry. The most important objective guiding the decision to liquidate state-owned farms has not been met. These farms are a declining form of husbandry. Yet they compare favourably with most private farms, which only goes to prove that privatisation alone does not lead to the emergence of a new quality, i.e., economic effectiveness.

This document presents tasks entrusted to ARMA to be performed after the accession, with reference to support instruments for the development of rural areas and agriculture given until the end of April 2004 - with a particular consideration of the pre-accession SAPARD programme. A vast spectrum of the future instruments is shown and the key reole of banking sector, as a significant link of the institutional system, supporting implementation of the Union measures has been underlined. Also questions realting to the process of preparing ARMA to function as a Paying Agency for the instruments of Common Agricultural Policy, and also an implementing institution for sector oparation programmes are presented in general.