Social expectations as to the role of agriculture vary, ranging from the production of large quantities of inexpensive food, an improvement in the quality of foodstuffs and their guaranteed safety, participation in international exchange, respect for the needs of the natural environment and protection of the landscape to participation in the development of rural areas, etc. Functions ascribed to agriculture are the resultant of political choices that need to be harmonised and updated in the enlarged Europe. These choices relate to many levels (national, European, international) at which decisions are made and various initiatives are launched. The article presents several scenarios of evolution. The first of these scenarios is based on the concept of liberal economy and leaves agriculture to be piloted by enterprises from the food and agricultural sector. This tendency may produce undesirable effects for the agricultural world and upset the territorial and environmental equilibrium. The second scenario, based on the reformed Common Agricultural Policy, is not free either from contradictions between the economic and social function of agriculture and it entails the risk of a deepening conflict of interests between the member-states. The third scenario, which is inscribed in the perspective of lasting development and which emphasises the service function of agriculture and valorisation of territory in accordance with the logic of multifunctionality, seems to be an ideal proposal.

The Ukrainian economy's investment needs are far greater than the possibilities of meeting them. This situation could be improved by means of attracting foreign investments. However, the investment climate, especially in agriculture and the food sector, is not very favourable due, mainly, to the absence of clearly formulated fundamental legal regulations, unstable political and macroeconomic situation, the lack of state guarantees and business ethics, and negative opinions about the results of efforts launched to reform the Ukrainian economy.

In the process of creation of the farmers' social insurance system three stages have been distinguished, each characterised by the adoption of regulations in the form of legal acts. The first stage saw the emergence and introduction of the institution of "pension in return for land" and covered the years 1962-1977. This institution should be treated as a para-system in which social issues played a marginal role. The second stage - covering the years 1977-1990, gave the beginning to the proper insurance system whose application was based, however, on the principle of "pension in return for commodities". Only those farmers could receive pensions who sold to the state the required quantity of products.
The third stage of creation of the farmers' pension system, inaugurated in 1991, can be described as based on the modern model of "pension in return for premium". The system's governing principle at this stage was egalitarianism, with farmers contributing identical premiums regardless of the size of their farms.

The article analyses the impact of joining the EU on domestic agricultural and food prices in Poland in the first six months following the accession. The authors examine the initial predictions of experts concerning price changes, made before May 1, 2004, and compare them with the status quo. The analysis covered the main transmission channels through which the price effects of accession penetrated into the Polish economy. Then, an attempt at evaluating their importance for individual agri-food products was undertaken. The research took into account the influence of international trade (arbitrage) on changes in the prices of both final products and raw materials. It also covered the breakdown of retail prices of food, showing the share of producers, processors, traders and taxes in the structure of these prices. The authors conclude that in the case of some food and agricultural products the pace of the prices equalisation outgrew the initial projections, proving much faster than expected. The reasons for that were not only of economic but also of psychological nature. However, there still are some markets where price convergence remains gradual. It should be noted that price differences between Polish products and those from other EU countries will depend not only on the demand and supply factors in play on the Common Market but, in a large measure, also on fluctuations in exchange rates. The observable appreciation of the Polish zloty has contributed to the quicker adjustment of Polish prices to the EU ones, in general.

The paper presents the results of an analysis (based on the data provided by the Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture) conducted to determine the geographical structure of applications filed within the implementation of the SAPARD programme in Poland. The analysis was carried out in accordance with the criterion of the SAPARDs four Action programmes and at two levels of territorial division: NUTS II (voivodeships) and NUTS III (sub-regions).

The author examines the possibilities of supporting the development of rural communes by means of application of marketing concepts. She concentrates her attention on promotion efforts launched at the initiative of the representatives of local councils. The main thesis is that there exists a relation between the distinguished types of communes (which differ in terms of social, economic and cultural factors of development) and their promotional initiatives. The results of surveys conducted by the author confirm the generally prevailing opinion about the bad economic condition of rural areas. Local authorities concentrate their attention mainly on the endogenous social-cultural development and rarely on matters connected with economic development. The latter is initiated owing to the local resources rather than owing to the search for impulses (in the form of personnel, financial means or investors) that could be found outside the commune. Promotion is addressed to the local community chiefly. A statistically significant relation existed between four groups of variables: internal economic promotion economic character of development; internal social promotion mixed character of development; internal social promotion economic character of development. The results of the conducted research indicate that communes launch promotion efforts mainly in the internal social and the internal cultural spheres. Entities that apply external economic promotion more often record better economic indicators and, consequently, achieve a better position on the labour market and are richer.

The presented report was prepared within the research project called "The system of old age and disability pensions for farmers and medical services for the elderly in the opinions of two generations" which was implemented by the Institute for Rural and Agricultural Development of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IRWiR PAN) in 2001-2003. The main aim of the conducted research was to analyse the health care situation of the older residents of rural areas. The investigation also covered the relations between the local communities' needs in respect of medical services and the possibilities of satisfying these needs, as well as the differences in access to health care and social welfare institutions of persons representing various age groups. Financial problems encountered by elderly persons in connection with the necessary expenditures on health care were also examined. The conducted research was designed to show how often the residents of rural areas use the services of private medical institutions and whether and to what an extent the financial situation of patients is a barrier blocking their access to this sector of medical services. It also sought to identify the factors that decide about the more or less frequent use of services offered by private medical institutions and to establish whether the position of the older residents of rural areas was less favourable in this respect than that of the other members of the rural community, as well as to reveal the structure and level of expenditures on medical treatment. The indispensable information was provided by surveys of 300 households situated in the rural communes of Świętokrzyskie and Podlaskie voivodeships, which are characterised by a higher than average level of advancement of the process of the rural population's aging.

The article presents the currently binding legal regulations that determine the financial policy of communes in Poland. It also describes the main tendencies in changes occurring in the incomes and expenditures of rural communes as well as the remaining communes. In the part covering the results of surveys of three chosen communes: Stęszew, Zator and Drobin, the text provides examples of financial strategies applied by communes characterised by a different initial situation and using different methods to finance their development.

The article deals with issues relating to the management of the former state farms' residential buildings. It contains a detailed analysis and an evaluation of different organisational forms (96 residential communities and 44 co-operatives) of that management applied on the territory of the Agricultural Property Agency's Regional Division (OT ANR) in Olsztyn, in the examined period of time. The paper presents the determinants and identifies the priorities of management, which reflect the specific character of the lodgings in question and their tenants. The conducted analyses have provided the material for making a comparison of the examined organisations.

The article consists of two parts. In the first part the author discusses ties and interdependencies between the indirect and direct indicators, which serve to measure the effects of the production process, and fixed assets coupled with other production factors. Basing on these ties and interdependencies the author distinguished indicators directly differentiating the category of the fixed assets' profitability, which were adopted as variables helping determine the level of that profitability. The obtained coefficients, which characterised the relations between qualitative indicators, served as the basis for an analysis presented in the second part of the article. In this part the author used the empirical data of farms operating in the Central European macro-region in 1997-1990, which were divided into groups in accordance with their size, to show the intensity and direction of the indicators' influence on the relative growth of the fixed assets' profitability. The research tools employed in the process consisted of interaction models, expressed as a multiple regression of the Cobb-Douglas type, which constituted the basis for analysing the indicators' influence on the level of profitability of the farms' fixed assets in the period under investigation.