The main content of the paper is a broad analysis of the present status and changes of agricultural and food production. The level, structure and distribution of food production in the world and regions in the context of malnutrition and reducing hunger are the main issues of the author 's deliberation. One of the most important conditions of further development of less-developed countries is their better access to international trade of agricultural and food products. Protection and subsidies implemented by developed countries are reducing participation and access of developing countries to the international market of agricultural and food products. The necessity of reducing trade-distorting policy and improving market access is becoming more and more important.

There are 1,430,000 farms in operation in Poland, each with the size not exceeding 2 ESU. They account for 67.5% of all farms conducting agricultural production and they play significant social and environmental roles. The author of the article analyses the operation of these smallest farms basing on materials provided by a farm census conducted in 2002, on economic accounts for agriculture and information available owing to the Polish Farm Accountancy Data Network (figures from the latter two sources relate to 2004). In the conclusions formulated on the basis of the conducted analysis the author states that a rise in demand for labour in non-agricultural sectors of the national economy could lead in the course of 10-20 years to the disappearance of the majority of such farms and, consequently, to a threat of environmental degradation of a considerable part of the so-called ecological farmland existing in Poland.

To counteract the negative phenomena of fragmented agrarian structure in Polish agriculture in Rural Development Areas Plan 2004-2006 (PROW) was adopted the early retirement pension scheme for farmers, aimed at agricultural land concentration in viable economically farms. The core of this scheme is offering farmers early retirement pensions in exchange of agricultural land release for agriculture structure improvement. The entitlements to early retirement pensions for farmers are provided with personal and object clauses. The legal regulations introducing the farmers early retirement pensions scheme to a practice were significantly liberalized in PROW with reference to early functioning, what have caused becoming farmers qualified for early retirement pension loosely connected with agriculture. It in turn is causing low efficiency of structural functions realization and low effectiveness of used public funds adopted for this scheme. It is necessary to adjust the legal regulations of discussed scheme aiming in limiting joining to the scheme persons without enough long period of belonging to social security scheme for farmers, also do not transferring agriculture land for purpose of agrarian structure improvement.

Basing on the results of implementation of a system of structural pensions in Poland's agriculture in 2004-2005 the author analyses the structural, social, welfare and political functions of that instrument. She points to the relatively weak influence of that instrument on changes in the acreage structure of farms, which can be attributed to the fact that most farms are transferred to successors, and also to social consequences in the form of widening inactivity of the rural community, to over-representation of welfare functions and their political consequences.

The article shows the experience of EU countries and Poland concerning the occurrence of a new trend in economics, that is social economy, based on the example of social cooperatives. The occurrence of these subjects is an example of the fact that the market economy system is not the only mechanism of local development. The Polish achievements so far have been rather modest, that is why the initiatives of social and professional integration of the poorest have been launched in order to patch this part of Polish reality.

The system of taxes applied in Polish agriculture requires changes and adjustment to the new economic conditions. It also needs to be rearranged and incorporated into the general tax system, especially as far as the taxation of incomes is concerned. Agricultural activity ought to be subject to the general taxation rules but detailed tax solutions may be applied to ensure proper consideration for its specific character. Such solutions are widely used in the European Union. The authors of the article present the most important principles governing the taxation of farms in the European Union, describe the system currently applied in the taxation of farms in Poland and offer suggestions concerning possible direction of changes in that system.

The to-date experience in the development of rural co-operative movement in Poland points to the movement's continuing marginalisation. The country's economic life has become dominated by enterprises that concentrate their efforts on very practical business activities. Activities serving educational purposes, such as those usually pursued by co-operatives, are on the wane. A part of co-operatives has launched efforts to continue their activity in the new social-economic conditions. Operation in a competitive environment makes it necessary to acquire specific knowledge and managerial skills, as well as to search for new, unconventional solutions. The present situation calls for pluralism of co-operative solutions and for a diversity of forms, types and methods of operation. New types of co-operative organisations are emerging, which are referred to as new co-operatives or alternative cooperatives. They usually are formed outside the traditional structures of co-operative movement and they apply simplified organisational solutions. This fact attests to the vitality and considerable flexibility of the co-operative movement's organisational formula, as well as to the ability of co-operatives to adjust to the changing conditions.

Demographic development level, both in the rural population involved in private farming and in the economic development of private agricultural economy underwent changes during the transformation period in rural areas of the West Pomeranian region. The commune typology has been based on commune spatial layout, according to demographic development level of population involved in private farming and economic development level of private farms in 1996. This typology divides communes into various groups. There are communes with balanced demographic and economic development (i.e. such where a balanced degree of demographic and economic development occurs: favourable, average or unfavourable). Another group are communes where demographic development exceeds the economic one and inversely, there are communes where the economic development outdistances the demographic one. As a result of delimitation, it has been proved that in 1996 the type of balanced demographic and economic development was dominant in the communes of the West Pomeranian region. It has been noted that the high degree of farming population development most frequently coexists with a high degree of private farming development. Two factors are related to this fact: high quality of the production environment and close location to large important towns.

The Subjects of this research are medical students which come from villages. Base of analysis are results of empirical research conducted in the spring of 2005 among medical students from Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz, the University of Mikołaj Kopernik in Toruń. Purpose of research was diagnosing basic social and demographic characteristics of medical students, their financial aspirations and attitudes towards profession, their plans. Students from villages future-profession plans concentrates on willingness to obtain specializations diploma, but unlike their colleagues from cities, almost 15% of them are planning to obtain family doctor status in the future. Similar number of graduates (16%) declare, that they will stay at villages and start professional career in relation to this environment. It was noticed that medical students from villages twice as often as students from cities tend to undertake work for lower earning. Group of students described here may constitute very important background for family medicine evolution in Poland. To have an own practice at village on the strength of individual contracts with National Health Founds could essentially change family doctor status at villages.