A decade after the fall of the Berlin wall, the CEECs’ transition from former, centrally planned economies to functioning market economies is in full progress. Although transition economies shared many of the failures that led to the demise of the central planning model, there are significant differences between them. These differences concern the inherited ownership structure, geographical orientation (e.g. proximity to EU markets), resource endowments, timing of reforms and historical, political, administrative and cultural legacies. Despite these differences and the differences in strategy, all of the governments have pursued the same broad goals of policy: economic growth and efficiency, equity and power alleviation, stability and security, sustainability and environmental conservation (Upton, 1999).

The transition process in virtually all of the CEECs has affected the farming systems. Conservation of the environment and sustainability are increasingly recognised as important objectives. There seems to be a growing awareness that environmental conservation is a global rather than a national issue (Upton, 1999).

The goal of this review is twofold. First, it aims at clarifying the concept of sustainable farming systems in order to provide a basis for identification and "operationalization" of separate sustainability issues related to farming systems. Second, it aims at giving a brief review on the state of sustainability of farming systems in five CEECs: Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Poland and Romania. The topics of this review concern natural conditions, agricultural structure, farming systems resulting from the transition process, the sustainability of farming systems and constraints on sustainability in the selected countries. In the final chapter some conclusions are summarised.

The sustainability of agricultural systems in the CEECs comprises a wide range of issues. Several levels of sustainability have been identified. It is common to refer to ecological, economical, social, cultural and ethical sustainability. Taking into account that ecological and economical sustainability seems to be the most urgent in the CEECs these two levels are emphasised. This is not to say that social, cultural and ethical sustainability is unimportant.

With respect to achieving the objective of sustainable agricultural development, the First Workshop of the Central and Eastern European Sustainable Agriculture Network (CEESA), which took place from 2 to 7 March 1999 at Gödöllö, Hungary, identified the following common characteristics of the CEECs (FAO, 1999A):

• While the use of inputs has lessened in extent over the last few years resulting in lower pollution emissions, there is no guarantee, however, that this will lead to sustainable agriculture as was noted.
• Deep financial crises in both agriculture and the economy as a whole restrict the introduction of sustainability-oriented technologies and practices, as well as leads to the abandonment and/or the degradation of previous long-term investments in soil fertility and erosion-control measures. This, in turn, results in the degradation of natural resources and the environment.
• Current agricultural policies are oriented toward addressing short-term priorities, with emphasis given to intensification and increases in production, thus neglecting to pay appropriate attention to the long-term interests of preserving natural resources.