From a bottom-up perspective, the field visits in Serbia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Montenegro showed that rural entrepreneurs, and some rural communities, can make good things happen, and that in some cases they do so without much help from government. However, it was also clear that farmers generally depend upon financial support from government and advisory services; that many enterprises would like help from government; and that rural communities depend upon infrastructure and services provided by public authorities. Far-sighted stakeholders, looking ahead to the hoped-for accession to the European Union, realize that national systems must be reformed in order to create a workable climate for the long-term social and economic viability of their country.