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Rendsburg (dpa / lno) - Schleswig-Holstein's farmers have called for a significant reduction in the numbers of barnacle geese and barnacle geese.
The problems with “exploding goose populations” have long been known, but “no effective steps have been taken to regulate the population,” said farmers' association president Werner Schwarz on Friday.
He emphasized: "We do not want a radical solution."
Goose-eaten farmers in the north suffer annual damage of an estimated eight million euros, said Schwarz.
He called for a simpler procedure for full compensation for the damage.
"Ultimately, the compensation payments are not the first choice anyway."
Farmer Melf Melfsen from the Nordfriesland district spoke of massive problems with geese on the North Sea coast.
"Basically, the fields there were completely eroded in the spring," he said.
Grain cultivation is no longer possible on his land.
That's why there is only grassland there.
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Association president Schwarz called for appropriate inventory management.
A regulation of stocks to protect agriculture is also permissible under European law.
Currently, fewer than 2,000 animals are shot each year.
The growth rate is more than 20,000 geese.
Agriculture Minister Jan Philipp Albrecht (Greens) wants to enable good agricultural practice in harmony with the geese, particularly through incentives and compensation payments.
"A mere reduction of the stock, however, is neither expedient nor implementable," he told the German press agency.
"I am confident that this has now been recognized by everyone involved."
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