ABSTRACT
Polish agriculture remains dominated by small producers. Most count themselves as among the losers of post-Communist transformation and market reforms although this attitude will probably change as new projects begin and more EU money flows in. The biggest problems which farmers face are poor institutionalization, especially in the area of self-organization, and very limited access to modern knowledge and technology. As a result, thousands of farms have reduced their links with the market and now produce only for the needs of the farm household. This chapter looks at two products, apples and pigs. Poland is the largest producer of apples in CEE and one of the largest producers of pigs. The process of institution building in the agri-food economy has been very complicated and is not yet finished. Three factors have played especially important roles in this process: growing competition due to the opening up of the economy, an inflow of foreign capital, and preparations for membership of the EU.
