EN
Farm companies with a share of foreign capital represent a new (post-1989) element in the agrarian structure of Polish agriculture. Study of this ownership form was carried out in northern Poland, with account being taken of the spatial differentiation of land, legal-ownership forms and size structure of companies, as well as the structure of farms by state involved. The agriculture of north Poland was found to have embraced 220 operating companies with a share of foreign capital, having at their disposal a total of 185,000 ha. Their percentage share of all agricultural land has reached 2.4% and is characterised by high spatial diversity. The highest values (of over 25%) are attained in north-western Poland. The analysis carried out indicates that some 103 companies in which foreign capital takes the majority share are augmented by a similarly-sized (117-strong) group encompassing 94.000 ha of land in which foreign capital has a minority stake. The above differences reflect Polish legal re-strictions on the purchase of land by foreign persons. It is also for these reasons that foreign-owned companies in agriculture are mainly founded on land leased from the Treasury Agricul-tural Property Agency. The analysis of the breakdown of foreign companies by stale revealed that stakes were held by enterprises from 15 countries. There was a prevalence of stakes of German capital, accounting for 116 companies (or 53% of all those with foreign co-ownership). The presence of foreign capital in Polish agriculture was revealed in aspects both positive (the employment of workers from the now-defunct State Farms) and negative (the taking-over of agri-culture land). These issues are of major importance for the shaping of national agricultural policy, especially in relation to the process of integration with the EU.