Mass slaughter of livestock: with farmers decimated, the French rally behind those who feed them

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ER Editor: The latest thing to keep the French outraged and occupied.  Yes, we do believe it’s a show, returning the narrative back to basics, of farmers and food production. Farmer protests in Brussels got a lot of traction around Feb. 2024. Another one is upcoming on Thursday of this week.

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Mass slaughter of livestock: with farmers decimated, the French rally behind those who feed them

FRANCE SOIR

As the first outbreak of bird flu is detected in the Landes region, pressure is mounting on farms, with cattle being slaughtered, just as the market is being opened up to Mercosur and after allowing in Ukrainian chicken raised in conditions very different from ours. But beware, French people of all political persuasions are becoming increasingly concerned about the injustice being done to our countryside.

This Friday morning, two weeks before Christmas, a farmer in Ariège saw his herd of more than cows slaughtered after a case of bovine dermatosis was detected, even though the Federation of European Veterinarians advises against slaughtering herds in favor of treatment

“This is the massacre of the French peasantry.”

LINK (this has English voiceover)

After two days of agricultural protests aimed at preventing the euthanasia of livestock, veterinary services were able to enter the barn, escorted by a fierce gendarmerie, deploying heavy equipment, helicopters, and Centaur armored vehicles to forcibly remove several hundred farmers who had come to support one of their own.

With a Mercosur agreement about to be voted on, a deeply overhauled CAP, and animal diseases whose public management is being contested, agricultural anger is resurfacing across France and is expected to be expressed in Brussels next week.

A march is planned for December 18 in the European capital, where organizers hope to see up to “10,000 demonstrators,” many of them from France.

ER insert, for those who wish to practice their French —

Translation: RENDEZVOUS THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18! MASSIVE FARMERS’ DEMONSTRATION IN BRUSSELS! 1st delegation (10,000 people expected): The French! Find the full live stream of Florian #Philippot (12/12/25) on https://youtu.be/7oY9QU8FasY

🇫🇷

RDV JEUDI 18 DECEMBRE !
IMMENSE MANIF DES PAYSANS A BRUXELLES !
1ère délégation (10.000 personnes attendues) : Les 🇫🇷Français !

➡️Retrouvez le direct intégral de Florian #Philippot (12/12/25) sur https://t.co/gZH2GAeG3D pic.twitter.com/02Uj5caVK7

— François DESCAMPS ✊ (@FrancoisDESCAM7) December 14, 2025

Translation: Next Thursday 18/12 there is a farmers’ demonstration in Brussels. I will be there, right in the heart of the city, to encourage the farmers in their fight against Mercosur and the suffocating EU regulatory bureaucracy. Without our farmers, no food. That’s forgotten far too often.

🚜👨🏻‍🌾 Nu donderdag 18/12 is er in Brussel een boerenbetoging.

Ik zal er zijn, hartje stad, om de landbouwers aan te moedigen in hun strijd tegen Mercosur en de verstikkende EU-regelneverij.

Zonder onze boeren geen voedsel. Dat wordt al te vaak vergeten.pic.twitter.com/d0LBu4Hva7

— Dirty Harry🐇🕳️ (@dirtyh44) December 12, 2025

Translation: Farmers are gathering tonight in Ariègein response to the planned slaughter of 208 cows following the discovery of a case of lump plague. Farmers say this is an overreaction EU protocols require this. Farmers are now literally being bombarded from above with gas!

Boeren verzamelen zich vanavond in Ariège🇫🇷als reactie op de geplande slacht van 208 koeien na de ontdekking van een geval van bultenpest.

Boeren zeggen dat dit een overdreven reactie is‼️

De EU-protocollen eisen dit.

Boeren worden nu letterlijk van bovenaf met gas bestookt! pic.twitter.com/cSnY8FkGje

— Van Emmerick Kris (@VanEmmerickKris) December 12, 2025

In France, this week has seen a surge in mobilization: actions against sanitary slaughter from the Jura to the Pyrenees, rallies in front of prefectures, “fires of anger” in the Marne, a coffin in front of the Ministry…

The exasperation is such that almost all agricultural unions boycotted the speech by Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard, who launched the “food sovereignty conferences” in Rungis on Monday: a “communication exercise” at a time when the dramatic ‘diagnosis’ of “Ferme France” is well known.

Europe’s leading agricultural power is suffering, having to import more and more to the point where it is facing a trade deficit in 2025 for the first time in 50 years. Its flagship products, from wheat to vines, are going through an unprecedented crisis.

The setbacks are mounting: climate crises, health crises, geopolitical tensions, rising production costs, falling prices and incomes… On the eve of winter, there are other sources of concern.

The dermatosis that angers

Farmers in tears, activists ready to fight: opposition to the government’s health policy—which divides unions—has hardened in recent days.

After bluetongue disease and while avian flu is still rampant, contagious bovine nodular dermatitis (CBND) appeared in France at the end of June. The government’s response, which involves slaughtering all affected herds, has been poorly received.

In the Doubs and Ariège regions, protesters, supported by the Confédération Paysanne and Coordination Rurale farmers’ unions, are attempting to oppose the culls and are calling for widespread preventive vaccination.

The FNSEA, which remains close to the government, supports the protocol, fearing that widespread vaccination would deprive France of its “disease-free” status and thus its ability to export live cattle for many months.

An uncertain CAP

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which is central to European integration and agriculture on the continent, has been the EU’s largest item of expenditure to date.

The Commission’s proposals are causing anger: not only could the budget for the next CAP (2028-34) be reduced by 20%, but it could also be “diluted” into a large fund.

France fears particularly painful cuts for its farmers, who are the main beneficiaries of the CAP, receiving around €9 billion in aid per year, or two-thirds of their income.

These subsidies are a vital buffer for many farms that have been weakened since the war in Ukraine. In Greece, delays in subsidy payments due to a national fraud scandal are currently causing massive protests.

EU-Mercosur vote on the horizon

The vote by European states on this agreement, which has been denounced by all agricultural unions, is approaching. The European Commission is aiming for the green light before December 20 and adoption by Parliament in early 2026.

This agreement should enable the EU to export more cars, machinery, wine, etc., but will also facilitate the entry of beef, poultry, sugar, honey, etc. Farmers denounce unfair competition due to less stringent standards that could destabilize already fragile European industries.

“The agreement with Mercosur is unacceptable. It may be implemented because there are 27 of us in the European Union,” French Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard admitted on Tuesday before beet producers.

CBAM, the tax too far

An EU carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) is set to come into force on January 1.

Grain farmers are calling for fertilizers to be excluded from the scheme: they argue that this carbon tax will be added to the tax imposed on Russian fertilizers since July and will cause fertilizer costs to skyrocket.

Farmers have seen costs soar due to the invasion of Ukraine, a disastrous wheat harvest in 2024, and a drop in the price of cereals, potatoes, and sugar beets in 2025. They believe that their cash reserves, which are “already depleted,” will not be able to withstand another shock.

What are we looking for?

Like other French industries that have been sold off piece by piece, even our crown jewels, French agriculture is being destroyed.

This is a strange coincidence with the EC’s statements in 2024, when it declared its primary intention to reduce livestock numbers under the pretext of combating greenhouse gases, while the number of small farms closing down continues to rise.

Source

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