In this paper an attempt was made to analyse the changes in the agricultural holdings of legal persons in the period 1996-2010, taking into account the pre- and post-accession period. In the analysed period, the agricultural holdings of legal persons, after the rapid and profound changes in the ownership, as well as and the legal and organizational structure in the first half of the 90s, were still subject to a profound restructuring. The effects of this process, however, were significantly different in the pre- and post-accession period. The article presents the basic structural changes in the whole farming sector of legal persons, including the various legal and organizational forms. The analysis concerned the changes: in the number of agricultural holdings and agricultural land in their use (including holdings with agricultural activities, in the area structure, in the spatial distribution of holdings by provinces, in the orientation of agricultural production, in the economic size and the labour input. The analysis was based on data from PSR 1996, 2002 and 2010, as well as the literature.