This study reviews the major changes in Hungarian agriculture that occurred between 2004 and 2006. Subjects investigated will include the structural shift towards crop production, the drastic decrease in the foreign food trade balance, and agriculture's deteriorating capacity to sustain and retain a rural population. (Hereinafter: sustaining and retaining capacity of agriculture). The author will diagnose related problems, but will not offer any solutions. Nevertheless, he will present a perspective stipulating that Hungarian agriculture's chronic problems require an agricultural strategy based on political consensus.