Between the outbreak of lumpy skin disease (LSD) in cattle—which has led to the culling of more than 3,000 animals in France since June—and the EU–Mercosur free trade agreement, due to be signed by December 20, the mix is explosive. But are the two really connected? And can Mercosur and European policies truly be blamed—exclusively—for France’s agricultural crisis?
To understand how France reached this point, one must look at a series of strategies—and strategic voids—that have culminated, amid unprecedented violence, in what amounts to assisted agricultural suicide.
