The aim of the paper is to reflect on the role of Polish new farmers – that is, people who move out from the city to settle in the countryside or those who return to their native villages after a longer period of studying/working in the cities – in the movement towards the more sustainable countryside. Most new farmers under study pursue some form of sustainable farming – they engage in agroecological, regenerative or permaculture farming. Most of them also want to engage to shape their rural communities in a more sustainable way. In the presented study we tried to assess the impact of the group of new farmers – who can be classified as new peasants according to the terminology of van der Ploeg – on the rural communities in which they live and work. This impact is often hampered by the differences in social and cultural capital between the newcomers, often pursuing a distinct, alternative lifestyle, and the rural communities they join. The sarp difference in farming style between conventional farming and the labour-intensive, small scale style of farming pursued by new farmers often constitutes a big gap between the newcommers and the local farming community. However, overall our study shows that the members of the group of new farmers try to engage in local matters (for example, as members of village councils) and their mindset and production methods has an impact on rural communities.