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The aim of this article has been to identify and evaluate main factors which influence the agricultural land market in Poland. Statistical data from two institutions, namely the Agricultural Property Agency (APA) and the Central Statistical Office (CSO) as well as the author’s research have been used in the paper. The time horizon of the analysis covers the years 1992-2012. The lower limit was determined by the start of operation of the Agency of Agricultural Property of the State Treasury and the launching of a process of transformation in agriculture state. Completion of the analysis for 2012 is related with the availability of statistical data used. Among the main factors which govern the management of farmland in Poland in the new institutional economic context are: formal norms (legal enactments; amendments to enactments; and the formation and modification of functions of a state institution responsible for the market turnover of agricultural land on the public and private markets, such as the Agricultural Property Agency of the State Treasury, transformed into the Agricultural Property Agency). Among some non-formal institutions there are historically shaped attitudes to agricultural land, which go beyond the market value of this land resource, in addition, encompassing its special cultural and symbolic value. The results of the author’s empirical research indicated that as many as 78.90% of the 943 questioned farmers received at least some of the farmland from their parents or parents-in-law, and as many as 73.49% would like to pass their farm to children or grandchildren (this intention was expressed by nearly all farmers who had children/grandchildren).
