Wild boar crop damage: who pays the compensation?

Wild boar crop damage in France works like this: the farmer reports the damage to the departmental hunting federation (FDC, federation departementale des chasseurs), which has it assessed and then pays out against a scale¹. The hunting society or ACCA (municipal hunting association) does not pay the farmer. It funds the federation, and it can be held financially liable if it falls short of its harvest plan².

One Monday in October, a farmer stops you outside the town hall. His maize field, on the edge of the wood, has been rooted up over a hectare. He has already written to the federation. He wants to know what the society is going to do.

You know hunting, your ground and your guns. The compensation procedure, much less so. This guide covers who pays, what the law can ask of your society, how a farmer’s claim moves through the system and what to keep on file. It draws on the Environmental Code in force on 8 October 2026 and on the public pages of the Fédération nationale des chasseurs (FNC) and the departmental federations. Rules vary from one department to another: your federation has the last word.

Who pays for wild boar damage to crops?

The departmental or interdepartmental hunting federation pays the farmer. Article L. 426-1 of the Environmental Code places that duty on it where the damage needs putting right or costs the farmer part of the harvest¹. It covers wild boar and the other big game species under a harvest plan. The decree names them: wild boar, roe deer, red deer, sika deer, fallow deer, chamois, mouflon and Pyrenean chamois (isard)³.

Hunters carry the funding. The law sets a contribution for each animal to be shot of red deer, fallow deer, mouflon, roe deer and wild boar. The federation spreads the rest of the cost across its members and “requires a contribution from hunting grounds”⁴. A hunting society or ACCA pays the federation, never the farmer.

The national figures give the scale. Big game crop damage came to €90 million in 2024-2025, carried by 908,000 hunters: €55.5 million in compensation, €6.5 million in prevention and €25.7 million in running costs⁵.

The State does not pay. Answering a Senate question on 4 December 2025, the government wrote that funding compensation for wildlife damage directly from the public purse “is not envisaged at this stage”. It has set aside €50 million to help federations modernise the system⁶.

Calvados shows what that means on the ground. At its general assembly in Cabourg on 11 April 2026, the federation reported more than €1.3 million paid out for wild boar damage in the 2024/2025 season, close to half its annual budget. It ended the year more than €165,000 in deficit⁷.

When can your hunting society or ACCA be made to pay?

Three situations can land your society with a bill: a harvest plan left short, no control of numbers on its land, and the hunting ground contribution the federation asks for. The table sets them out.

The first case aims at “the holder of the harvest plan”, meaning the society or ACCA whose name is on it. If it “does not harvest the minimum number of animals allocated to it”, it “can be held financially liable”². The prefect can also change individual harvest plans: article L. 425-8 allows it where damage rises sharply because too few animals have been taken⁹.

The second case covers the holder of hunting rights who “does not carry out or arrange regulation” of the species on their land. Where the balance between farming, forestry and hunting around the hunting ground is badly upset, the prefect can serve notice of a number of animals to take within a set period. That number is the yardstick for holding them financially liable⁸.

The third case is the common one. According to the FNC, the law of 24 July 2019 made the hunting ground contribution general, paid by private hunting societies, ACCAs and landowner-hunters¹⁰. It differs from one federation to the next. In Haute-Marne, the federation charges damage costs to each zone: income minus costs gives a balance, and a negative balance triggers a damage contribution¹¹.

If you chair an ACCA, our article on the operation and obligations of an ACCA goes through its budget, harvest plan and deadlines. This guide deals with the damage side.

One final text concerns you if a farmer offers you a private settlement. Article L. 426-4 provides that anyone who obtains an amicable settlement from the person responsible for the damage, without the federation’s agreement, loses the right to claim compensation from it and must repay what they have already received¹². Call the federation before signing anything.

How does compensation work, from declaration to payment?

A claim runs through seven steps, from the farmer’s declaration to the federation’s payment, each with its own deadline. Here is the standard procedure; Alsace-Moselle works differently.

1. The farmer reports the damage “without delay” to the chairman of the federation for the department where the plot lies, by post or online. The declaration has to give the date of the first damage, its nature, extent and location, the quantities destroyed and the amount claimed, or it is thrown out¹³.
2. They send a final declaration at least eight working days before the crop is lifted, even if nothing further has happened in between¹³.
3. The federation chairman appoints an assessor from the departmental commission’s list. He can decide not to where the damage does not warrant a visit¹⁴.
4. The assessor calls the farmer out and inspects the plot. He records the date of the first damage, its extent, its cause, the species responsible and, where he can, where the animals came from. During harvest, he comes out within eight working days¹⁴.
5. The federation offers compensation against the departmental scale. If the farmer accepts and no deduction applies, it pays within fifteen days of the scales being notified¹⁵.
6. If there is a dispute, the file goes to the departmental hunting and wildlife commission, which sets the amount within ninety days¹⁶.
7. An appeal to the National Compensation Commission is still open for thirty days. That route is shut when the decision was unanimous and the amount is no more than €3,000¹⁶.

The federation does not set the scale. The departmental commission sets it each year, within a month of the price ranges issued by the National Commission¹⁷. The table below lists the thresholds and deadlines worth knowing.

The season runs from 1 July to 30 June, and the Indre-et-Loire federation’s 2026 guide confirms the €150 threshold¹⁹. Disputes go to the civil courts²⁰.

A note for the chairman. Article R. 426-13 provides for calling out the person who made the declaration, not the holder of the hunting rights¹⁴. Ask your federation whether it tells you about assessments on your hunting ground.

What should you record and keep when you chair a hunting society?

Record whatever bears on the three cases in the table: harvests set against the harvest plan, control measures, and correspondence with the federation and with farmers. The articles cited require no dedicated register. This list is our recommendation, to be checked against what your federation asks for.

• Every animal taken: date, species, sex, category and tag number where the harvest plan calls for one. That way you can measure your harvest against the minimum in your plan at any point².
• Every driven hunt held: date, place, hunt leader, participants, harvest and incidents. Our guide to the hunt logbook: requirements, template and contents goes through the sections.
• Any other control measures carried out on your land, with date and result. These answer article L. 425-5-1⁸.
• Deterrent baiting. Article R. 425-1 requires whoever does it to tell the federation where it is and how it is monitored, and the federation can object. It also caps quantities at 50 kilograms per 100 hectares of woodland per week²¹.
• Assessments you were told about: date, who attended, cause and species identified. The assessor records the cause of the damage, the species responsible and, where possible, where the animals came from¹⁴.
• Letters and emails with the federation and with farmers, contribution notices and proof of payment.

Keep all of it from one season to the next. A file kept up to date is easy to find. A file put back together in June is rarely complete.

A tool makes that easier. In Mes Chasses, the big game hunt logbook is built from the driven hunt events, and the season’s harvest history stays on record. For your members and your ground, you can also manage your hunting society in the app. Mes Chasses does not handle damage claims: what you send your federation stays in your hands.

Do the rules change from one department to another?

Yes, on three points: the scale, the hunting ground contribution and the rules that apply. The departmental commission sets the scale each year¹⁷. The contribution can be adjusted by species, by hunting ground or by management unit⁴. So what your society pays depends on your federation.

Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin and Moselle have their own regime. The Environmental Code gives them a section of their own, articles L. 429-23 to L. 429-32²². In Bas-Rhin, the farmer sends the assessment request to the departmental fund for wild boar damage, the FIDS 67²³. None of the steps above applies there.

One rule has shifted recently. In March 2025 the FNC congress voted unanimously for a “small claims” motion: no payment of small claims for the 2025-2026 season²⁴. It is an FNC vote, not a law, and the €150 threshold in article R. 426-11 is still in the code¹⁸. We have found nothing published on the 2026-2027 season, which opened on 1 July 2026. Ask your federation what applies.

Whether damage is rising this autumn is still an open question. No figures have been published for autumn 2026, and we are not going to guess. The most recent complete figures cover harvests: 881,372 wild boar in 2024/2025, 2.1% up on the season before, with a rise of more than 25% in eight departments²⁵. Those figures measure what was shot, not what was damaged.

Conclusion

The federation pays for wild boar crop damage, and your society funds the federation. It can end up paying more if it falls short of its harvest plan or fails to control numbers on its land. The farmer follows a procedure with tight deadlines; you do not run it, but you can understand it.

Do three things this week. Ring your federation and ask for the current scale, what your society’s contribution comes to, and the rule on small claims for 2026-2027. Measure your harvest against the minimum in your harvest plan. Put the season’s logbooks, reports and correspondence in one place. The free driven hunt sheet from Mes Chasses helps you prepare each driven hunt and record what it took.

The day a farmer or the federation asks what was done on your ground, you will answer with dates.

References