Protests against France's bovine contagious nodular dermatosis (DNC) culling policy intensified on December 14 in southwest France, with a manure-strewn demonstration in Millau and ongoing highway blockades, as farmers demand alternatives to euthanizing healthy animals. The actions precede Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard's Monday visit to Occitanie amid veterinary backlash and calls for dialogue.
Following initial highway blockades reported on December 13—including over 100 km on the A64 from the Basque Country to Tarbes and actions on the A75—farmers escalated demonstrations against the total herd culling protocol for DNC, a non-zoonotic insect-borne virus first detected in Savoie on June 29. Now with over 100 outbreaks in Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Occitanie, around 3,000 cattle (0.02% of France's 16 million-head herd) have been euthanized.
Unions like Rural Coordination and the Peasant Confederation decry the loss of genetic progress. On December 14 in Millau (Aveyron), breeder Bruno Roustan led about 50 farmers in covering the sub-prefecture with manure, straw, and tires to protest to Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu: "It is not acceptable to kill healthy animals."
Since Thursday, 27 actions have mobilized over 1,000 farmers, including sustained A64/A75 blockades and occupations in Haute-Garonne and Ariège. In Carbonne, Cédric Baron vowed to "spend the holidays here." Breeders also occupy a roundabout near a suspected farm.
Veterinarians implementing culls report an "insurrectional climate" with threats, often requiring police escorts, per Matthieu Mourou of the Order of Veterinarians.
The government upholds the protocol as "effective," pursuing targeted vaccination of one million animals to avoid export blocks. Genevard plans a Toulouse crisis meeting Monday. Occitanie president Carole Delga urged urgent dialogue in a letter to Lecornu, while France seeks a delay on the EU-Mercosur deal amid broader agricultural tensions.
