The conversion of the Polish economy from a communist system to one which has more emphasis on market forces is necessitating change in Polish agriculture. The objective of this paper is to discuss sustainability in addition to efficiency and equity as a measure of successful agricultural development. In fact, the large, if modestly productive, land base of Poland is managed by family farmers. These farmers already practice many techniques characteristic of sustainable agriculture, including integration of livestock with crop production and crop rotations with legumes. It is critical to see these as strengths upon which to build a new farm economy. Dramatic and often painful changes are occurring in Polish agriculture as the economy of Poland goes through the transition from a communist system to one with more emphasis on market forces. For many reasons, changes in the structure of Polish agriculture are inevitable. These include inequities between rural and urban incomes panly resulting from small farm sizes, low prices for farm products, and the lack of a strong agricultural infrastructure, e.g., supply, services, processing and sales (Tornszak, 1991). Relatively low crop yields per hectare also imply a lack of production effciency compared to Westem Europe as well as other Eastern Euro~ean countries. The oredominance ofsmall, private family farms (~ible 1) is Ule most hportant and unique feature of Polish agriculture (Rmznik Statystyczny, 1989). Only in Poland were farmers (peasants) so strong that the Communist party, during Stalin's period, could not destroy the family farm sector. Eventually, peasants acted like enzymes which step by step (for example, by traditional education of their children) "decomposed" cornmunism in Poland. The small average farm size may be inadequate to ensure a satisfactory standard of living for Poland's future farmers; however, the development of food policies to guide the transition from the communist era should recognize and nurture the inherent strengths of the Polish agricultural community. ~ 6 e objectives of thiH paper are to discu& the concepts of equity and efficiency with special reference to the human and biophysical resources available to Polish agriculture and to suggest, in gddition to equity and efficiency, a third measure of successful agricultural development-sustainability.