The Bovine Epizootic: The Slow Self-Destruction of French Agriculture
With the outbreak of lumpy skin disease, the Mercosur agreement comes at a convenient moment. Yet it is far from being the primary driver of France’s sanitary and agricultural crisis.
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.