In the article results of researches conducted in 2005 among farmers in Małopolska have been presented. The aim of the article is the presentation farmers’ opinions and attitudes against accomplishing structural alternations. Getting to know farmers’ intentions against further fates of their farms, and also getting to know their estimations about the future of their farms in the vicinity can have particular significance in the prognosis and program of further development of rural areas – especially in such region with a big agrarian overpopulation like the Małopolska Region.

The paper presents comparison of districts of Świętokrzyskie voivodship with respect to the number and structure of economic entities. Ranking of districts was constructed and groups of districts of similar structure were distinguished. The results show large disproportions among districts with respect to the number of economic entities while the structure of economic entities seems to be similar.

Agriculture in countries establishing Visegrad Group is defi nitely strongly diversified. At the moment of EU accession in 2004, these four countries: Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary became beneficiaries of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) measures. In the framework of given financial support, operational programs were implemented in these countries. Their main aim is to improve the competitiveness of agriculture and support rural development. Member countries have kept some freedom to choose the measures which would be used in financial perspective 2007–2013 and as a result, the implemented regulations are different countries. Main objectives of this paper is to compare both conditions of setting-up the agricultural activity and rules of application for support co-financed from EU budget in partner countries of Visegrad Group.

A State, local governments and entities are in charge of resolving problems of environmental protection. According to this such institutions are the main investors of environmental projects. Because of high capital absorbance of environmental investments a seeking for source of their financing can be difficult to solve issue. Authors have attempted an assessment of amount, types and sources of funding the investments at environmental area in West Pomeranian region in 2005–2007.

The aim of the paper was to identify determinants of unemployment of rural inhabitants in Poland. The research conducted in 2006 was done in 1000 rural household from 24 poviats in the whole country. Analyses of 2084 adult members of researched households was made in order to elaborate a model identifying influence of particular socio-economic variables on probability of unemployment among rural inhabitants. The set of factors which influence on probability of unemployment consists of: inhabited macro-region and a group of poviats, sex, age, position in a family, occupation as well as living in a household with a farm or without a farm.

Global problems of the environmental protection in the EU ecological policy are discussed in the work. Also, the idea of The Decade of Education for Sustainable Development announced by UNESCO is presented. Moreover, the Polish policy of the environmental protection is described with an emphasis on the National Strategy of Ecologically Sustainable Education which gives all the citizens an access to ecological education. The work presents how financial support provided by the Voivodeship Fund for Environmenta Protection and Water Management (WFOŚiGW) for ecological education was utilized, in terms of ecological and actual effects, in Warsaw in the years 2005–2007.

The farm manager education is found to be a productivity determinant of fundamental importance for the production process. Its weight is more considerable in farming, because it determines not only farming efficiency, but also a scale of activity. The study was made to identify reasons for choice of an agricultural school by young people from Agricultural School Complex in Rudka (Podlasie province). The main factors which decided the choice were interest in agricultural occupation and opportunity to take over a farm from parents in future.

The paper attempts to present the role of land properties for recreation in the process of rural areas development shaping within the region and also the price and extraprice determinants for such properties on the market. An important point is how the local spatial structure including land properties for recreation may affect regional development in a positive way. Some questions referring to determinants of demand, factors influencing the price level, as well as kinds of motivation during market search for land properties for recreation have been answered.

The paper presents opinions of rural districts’ inhabitants, which are located on Euroregion Niemen area concerning role of self-government in socio-economic development of these areas. There was made an assumption that rate of socio-economic development of rural districts located on researched area depends mostly on activity of local self--government. The active position of districts’ offices, mostly in sphere of financial means gaining and their rational use has a significant influence on increase of competitiveness of inhabitants, contributes to economic movements of these terrains and brings many economic profits for rural districts such ones like new places of work, what gradually cause often possible social conflicts. The inquired inhabitants of Euroregion Niemen districts pointed barriers of development, chances, which should be used by local self-governments and solid activities, which in their opinions, should be undertaken in order to further movements and economic development.

The paper presents the issue of poor development of regions which constitutes an initial process of the emergence of various disadvantaged area types. Grounds for disadvantaged regions formation were indicated and explained with the use of economic theories, including liberal trend, Keynes’s economics and localization theories. Separate reference was made to demographic and social rationales of forming disadvantaged areas resulting from weakening demographic potential, diminishing of the resources and quality of human and social potential and due to institutional problems. The article is a review comprising selected problems of the theory of origin and growing of the regress phenomena in the material sphere and on the socio-demographic background.

Author has undertaken in this article obligatory estimate currently legal concerning conduct section special sectors of agricultural production. Author has noticed admission of double genre existence in presently obligatory legal acts about special sections o rural production treating and largeness of production. So, range of special section is other and for tax purposes (PIT) and for purposes of agricultural social insurances other. Range of kind of section of special rural production limit versatile advancement of development of rural area for purposes of social insurances same considerably making impossible and applying about its advancement from general budget of European Union.

The article presents opinions of farming producers in Wielkopolska (Greater Poland) province on their knowledge about the production methods which are environmentally friendly, agricultural and environmental interaction issues as well as actions taken up to protect environment. There were used results of the questionnaire survey, conducted in 2007 amongst 200 farming producers, from 10 districts of the province, marked out by the rate of the agricultural production intensity. About 64% of farming producers put through an examination claimed the conventional farming does not threat the environment. Among pro-environmental actions, the producers protected areas of manure storage most often – 118 farmers undertook such an activity. Although a scale of pro-environmental action taken by the farmers was not impressive, the percentage of producers declaring such actions has been systematically increasing.

The paper presents a spatial analysis of labour resources, their quantitative-qualitative analysis conducted according to socio-professional status and production-economic results obtained by subsistence farms. The basic facts were provided by survey studies (review questionnaire) conducted on a representative group of farms (random selection) at the turn of 2007/2008 in four regions of the country, characterizing different types of agriculture. The paper is a part of more extensive research and focuses on a chosen group of subsistence farms selected from the whole population of 555 farms based on the criterion of farm economic strength (below 2 ESU units).

The paper deals with analysis and complex assessment of reformed CAP and cohesion policy of EU compatibility within the frames of regional development and rural areas development. The analysis of structure and changes in EU budget expenditures on these polices was done as well as discussion on future reforms, objectives changes and measures after 2013 within these two fundamental EU polices. Experiences from 2007–2013 programming period as well as fi rst experiences from practical realization numerous programs in 2007, 2008 and 2009 show that similar measures within CAP and Cohesion Policy are overlapping what leads to necessity for introducing numerous imperfect bureaucracy demarcation lines between measures that as a consequence leads to dispersion and inefficiency in the public means utilization in area of rural areas development support.

The paper analyses utilization of EU financial means allocated to agriculture and rural development in the Małopolska region for the period 2004–2007. The following programmes were discussed: SAPARD, direct payments for arable areas, SPO “Restructuring and Modernization of Food Sector and Rural Development” 2004–2006, Rural Development Plan 2004–2006 and Integrated Rural Development Programme.

The crops of plant production on soil with higher content of heavy metals were higher than on soil with low content of these metals. The explanation of this phenomena was based of hormesis effect concept. According to this higher content of heavy metals in the soil of the investigated farms may influence on the differentiation of their farming productivity and effectiveness’ level.