The deal, introduced to make European industry and farming more climate-friendly, has been the focal point of protests by farmers in a number of countries, including Poland, that have resulted in roads being blocked, cities gridlocked, and, in some cases, clashes with police.

Poland’s farmers complain that the excessive rules and bureaucratic procedures imposed by the EU’s green farming policies harm agriculture and their livelihoods.

The proposals, published by the EC on Friday, include the abolition of fallowing 4% of arable land, a choice between crop diversification and rotation, and greater flexibility for complying with certain environmental conditions.

“The changes should be assessed positively because they remove and significantly simplify, in line with farmers’ expectations, elements of the Green Deal,” said Czesław Siekierski, quoted in an agriculture ministry press release on Friday.

According to the EC proposals, from 2024 farmers will no longer be obliged to dedicate 4% of their arable land to non-productive areas, such as fallow land.

Instead, they will be able to get additional financial support, via an eco-scheme, for giving over a part of their non-productive land to hedges or trees in order to improve biodiversity.

Farmers will also be able to choose to diversify rather than rotate their crops.

Small farms of under 10 hectares will not be subject to sanctions related to their compliance with environmental standards — the so-called conditionality requirements.

“The changes proposed by the EC meet the simplifications requested by Poland and largely respond to the needs of farmers expressed during the protests, as they concern requirements that may reduce production and increase costs,” Siekierski said.

Earlier, the EC also announced a withdrawal from the planned restriction of the use of plant protection products, the agriculture ministry said in the statement.

The European Green Deal is a package of policy initiatives aimed at putting the EU on the path to ecological transformation and ultimately achieving climate neutrality by 2050.

The package includes initiatives aimed at more ecological and less emission-intensive production by leaving the fields fallow, reducing the use of fertilizers and plant protection products by half, and obligatory allocation of 25% of farmland for organic crops.