ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that how the post-socialist agricultural reconstruction has taken a number of often very different forms across these 15 countries. It has, in fact, led to social and territorial changes that in many cases are far removed from those originally intended. With varying degrees of competition and complementarity, these two classic agricultural forms co-existed throughout the East European rural landscape, save on mountain slopes, which were almost exclusively given over to state-owned forests. The restructuring of farm holdings themselves has been guided by a single principle. This has been adhered to by international experts and the new governments, as well as by policy-makers within the European Union. It has been reinforced by assessments of the various land reform processes. This is that the family farms represent the most adaptable and effective units for reorganizing agricultural production.
