Major changes have been made in the ownership of agricultural land in Moldova since 1992. These changes became possible when members and workers in large-scale farm enterprises began to receive individual rights to a share of land and farm assets and were allowed free decision between keeping their share in the collective or exiting from the collective to establish a private farm. This choice was intended to initiate internal restructuring of farm enterprises, and yet, despite formal changes in land ownership, the agricultural sector is still predominantly collective. Independent private farms and associations of private farmers are beginning to emerge, but they are confronted with many difficulties and often encounter hostility on the part of local village authorities and collective farm management. It is therefore important to examine the reasons for the moderate progress in land reform and farm restructuring, and to analyze the difficulties that face the slowly emerging new forms of agricultural production.