The EU Commission has announced a decision to exempt European farmers from rules on fallow land.
The decision was taken to meet EU farmers’ requests for exemptions from fallow rules in response to the challenges they face, the statement said.
Instead of leaving 4 percent of arable land fallow, farmers can plant nitrogen-fixing crops such as lentils, broad beans or peas on these lands, the statement said, adding that EU subsidies will continue for these lands.
The fallow rule exemption will start retroactively on January 1, 2024 and last until December 31, 2024, the statement said.
Farmers in European countries have been organizing intense protests recently. Farmers are demanding higher prices for agricultural products in the face of rising production costs.
Complaining about the Union’s agricultural policies, environmental, climate and nature restoration targets, cuts in subsidies, high energy, fuel and fertilizer costs, cheap grain products from Ukraine and other countries, water saving measures and long bureaucratic procedures and processes, farmers demand solutions to their problems.
Last week, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the abandonment of a plan to reduce the use of pesticides by 50 percent by 2030.
EU agriculture ministers will discuss the sector’s problems in Brussels on February 26.
