EN
The structural changes in agricultural farms in the European Union and in Poland during the period 1970-1995 have been analyzed. As a result of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union the agricultural farms in Western Europe have been modernized, the labour productivity has increased but it has also caused the overproduction of food; therefore CAP has been reoriented to environmental protection and to help the underdeveloped regions. The example of France, the biggest EU food producer, has been presented and analyzed. The situation of agricultural farms in Poland compared with the European Union shows that there are still many difficult structural problems which must be solved in the context of Poland's accession to the European Union.