In the article the peculiarities of rural development in Ukraine are reviewed. Economic potential and economic activity of Ukrainian rural areas has been analyzed. It has been defined that past twenty years of Ukrainian history could be defined as inefficient and inconsistent in the terms of rural development, as well as regulation of agricultural production and markets. It is stressed that integration with EU could be the needed push towards increase of competitiveness of Ukrainian agricultural produce and the possibility to comply with the EU standards in terms of quality of agricultural produce and food stuffs
