The aim of the study was to assess the effectiveness of technical equipment with regard to nett commodity production and the amount of subsidy in family farms. In the years 2004-2009, 70 family farms were studied and grouped according to: amount of subsidies, area of arable land, economic size units and business income. The analysis of the relationship between production outputs and inputs made it possible to assess the effectiveness of the used means of mechanization. The effectiveness of use of technical equipment (Revenue Unit RU/costs of use of machines) increased with an increase in the amount of subsidy and the difference between the highest and the lowest amount was more than threefold. The index of the effectiveness of agricultural technical equipment (amount of subsidy/cost of using machines) was the highest in farms: area of 50-70 ha AR, amount of subsidy 100-150 thousand PLN and economic size 16-40 ESU. Effectiveness with respect to the amount of subsidy and the replacement value of machines was the highest in farms with the highest values of the grouping criteria.