Nu.nl asked all 12 Dutch provinces if they had received any applications to use the pesticides, and nine replied, saying no licences have yet been granted.

That means, Nu.nl said, that bulb growers in Noord and Zuid-Holland, lily growers in Drenthe and arable farmers in Limburg are likely to be using the same pesticides as last year this spring – but without a permit to do so.

The Council of State ruled last year that permits to use the pesticides are needed while further research into their impact on the environment is carried out. That ruling stemmed from a court case brought in 2018 by campaign group Milieudefensie.

Frans Rooijers from pesticide campaign group Meten=Weten described the situation as “scandalous”. His organisation now plans to request the provinces send inspectors to carry out checks on farmers, and has already done so in several areas.

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He points out that if the provinces leave permit requests up to individual farmers who do not comply, and if the provinces do not carry out inspections either, then nothing will change.

“We are going to keep going until dangerous pesticides are no longer in use,” he told Nu.nl.