Residents Win Court Battle Against Lily Farmer’s Use of Pesticides in Boterveen

Since 2018, Jonna Vernes lives with her family in Boterveen. It was discovered by a neighbor in the street that lilies would be grown on the plot next to the houses in the village. After rapprochement with the lily farmer did not work and, according to her, the province did not want to enforce it, the nine local residents decided to go to court.

Every time the lily farmer drove his sprayer over the bulb fields, Vernes decided to bring her children inside. She did the same with her animals on the land. This has been twice a week for the past few weeks. “Then we were waiting for the spraying to be over, with a few hours left after that,” she says.

Because of Vernes’ legal background, she saw an opportunity in court. “I look with a legal eye. You can experience nuisance, for example from barking dogs or small children. But when does this go too far?”

The judge decided yesterday that the health risks for local residents are too great. That is why no plant protection products may be sprayed on the field at Boterveen. The nine local residents were therefore put in the right in summary proceedings. The verdict was not celebrated. “But we congratulated each other. The fact that you have to solve this with the law is very sad. You will only be heard when the verdict is there and that is a pity.”

Meten=Weten and Milieudefensie Westerveld believe that the ruling may also have consequences for other situations where local residents live close to a bulb field. “That’s because of the feeling that we weren’t taken seriously for this,” says Alok van Loon of Meten=Weten. This organization has been campaigning against the use of plant protection products for years. “We get a lot of calls, everyone wants to know what we can do with this. It is very brave that the residents of Boterveen have done this and it is of great significance.”

Henk Baptist of Milieudefensie suspects that the ruling will set a precedent for similar cases. “I expect that more people will appeal to a judge. Limits in use will have to be indicated more clearly.”

The lily grower from Boterveen did not want to respond.