Farmers in the south east of the Netherlands say June’s storms have caused up to €500m worth of damage to crops this year and are calling on the government to declare a national emergency.

That would make it easier for the hardest hit farms to apply for extra help and to protect firms which risk going bust, farming organisations say. It would also make it easier to clean up the damage. In some places, giant hailstones destroyed farm buildings and greenhouses as well as crops.

The real picture won’t become clear for a few months when the impact on the harvest of wheat and other crops takes place, the organisations say.

Farmers have already submitted claims totalling €130m because of damage to crops, primarily in Limburg and Noord-Brabant, according to the insurers association Verbond van Verzekeraars.