Bulb grower Joling in Dwingeloo went to court today, because the province of Drenthe does not want to compensate for the damage caused by deer. It concerns an amount of more than 100,000 euros that the province does not want to reimburse, because Joling would not have protected his crop sufficiently. Both parties were before the administrative court in Groningen.
It is the grower’s responsibility to properly protect this capital-intensive crop. Regulations have been drawn up for this. According to Joling, at the beginning of June, he saw snacks from his strawberry plants here and there and, according to the guidelines, he drove poles with electric wires around his site.
Two weeks later, the grower saw that this was not enough. “The roe deer can jump high, especially when they can get a nice snack somewhere,” said the grower. As an extra measure, he placed a two-meter high grid around the site. “After that there was nothing more wrong, the deer no longer came to the plants,” the man told the judge.
He reported his damage to the province. And he sent pictures of the first fence: the posts with the power wires attached. Appraisers who inspected three weeks later found a good fence. It looked like the damage would be paid out, but Joling got zero on his claim. The photos he allegedly sent were too unclear, according to the province.
“And if that first fence had been made according to the instructions, that would have been sufficient. Then there would have been no damage,” said a spokeswoman for BIJ12. This is a knowledge and advice center for fauna damage and advises the provinces on this. The conclusion was: Joling had not protected his crops on time and sufficiently and the claim had therefore to be rejected. This was also apparent from the findings of an employee of the province, who had visited. He had seen with his own eyes that the shielding was insufficient.
The judge asked the spokeswoman when that employee had visited. “I don’t know. As far as I know, six months later. I can’t ask him either, because he’s on vacation,” was the answer. The judge wondered aloud how much value you should attach to the employee’s assessment. Joling also accused the province of not having enough roe deer, which meant that there were far too many roe deer that spring. But the judge did not go into that.
The verdict will be announced in six weeks.