The truth about the viral photos of a field 'sprayed with herbicide' in the Netherlands

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• A media figure in the Netherlands shared a photo online of a yellowed field, claiming that the plants had been killed by the use of a herbicide called glyphosate.

• Soon after, a Dutch singer and former Eurovision contestant shared another version of the photo, this one showing the plants lush and green. They accused the person who shared the original photo of lying. 

• Our forensic analysis showed that the second photo, featuring the green field, has likely been photoshopped. That’s also the conclusion reached by freelance journalist and fact-checking expert, Marieke Kuypers.

• Finally, the image of the yellowed field alone doesn’t offer any proof that glyphosate was actually used.

The fact-check, in detail

Sander Schimmelpenninck, a TV presenter and writer based in the Netherlands, took to Twitter on April 18 to share an image of a yellowed field in Twente, a region in the Eastern part of the country. Schimmelpennick claimed that the field had died after being treated with a controversial but legal herbicide called glyphosate, often known as Roundup. The World Health Organisation has warned that the herbicide may be carcinogenic if consumed. 

Several media outlets report that, during the winter, some farmers cover their fields with a “cover crop”, a plant used to cover and conserve nitrates in the soil. Glyphosate is often used as a way to clear out these plants, turning them yellow, before planting a new crop. This technique is legal in both the Netherlands and France.  

After Schimmelpennick shared this first photo on April 18, Marga Bult, a Dutch pop star and former TV presenter, posted another image on April 19. The image shared by Bult is identical to the first, except that the field is a vibrant green. 

“You are deliberately showing Twente in a bad light using Photoshop,” Bult accused Schimmelpennick in her tweet, which garnered more than 637,000 views. 

Very likely photoshop

The FRANCE 24 Observers team has not found any instance of the photo in question appearing online before April 18. 

However, freelance journalist Marieke Kuypers, a specialist in fact-checking, demonstrated that the photo of the green field has likely been photoshopped.  

If you run the photo through the site fotoforensics.com, you’ll see that the green field is of worse quality and has sharper contrasts than the yellow field. This is often a clue that the photo has been edited. 

It is quite simple to change the colour of certain elements in an image.

Our team reached out to Marieke Kuypers:

I’ve already used applications where you can change one colour without changing the others. I tried it using this photo and it worked. You can also see that the photo has been edited because some of the colours in the original, including the colours on the banner, have disappeared and been replaced with green. 

Kuypers continues: 

There is a tense debate in the Netherlands over farmers and their impact on nature. The image of the yellowed field sparked a lot of discussions on social media because yellowed crops can indicate the use of glyphosate, which many people see as dangerous. 

Our team reached out to Marga Bult to ask her about the edited image that she posted, but, for the time being, we haven’t had a response. 

Bult competed in the Eurovision competition back in 1987. These days, she works as a nurse. However, during the Covid-19 pandemic, she refused to get vaccinated and was vocal in her opposition to vaccination policies. Media outlets and social media users alike have accused Bult of sharing false, manipulative content during the pandemic. 

The photo alone isn’t proof of the use of glyphosate

While the second photo has very likely been edited, does the first image show that glyphosate has been used?

Our team spoke to three agronomists, experts who advise farmers. They all said that it was impossible to determine with certainty from that photo alone that glyphosate had been used on the crops. 

Amélie Bajolet, an agronomist and expert in pesticide use, explains: 

It’s impossible to determine, just by looking at the image, the kind of herbicide that has been used. The yellowing of the crop could also be natural because, when a crop matures, it then dries out. 

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), the Netherlands uses the most pesticides in the EU, with an average use of 10.82 kg per hectare (10,000 m²) of cultivated land in 2020. Next comes Cyprus (9.24 kg/ha) and Ireland (6.66 kg/ha). Germany (4.05 kg/ha) and France (3.44 kg/ha) are close to the European average (3.3 kg/ha).

In December 2022, the European Commission decided to extend the license for the use of glyphosate in Europe until December 15, 2023.