At the livestock market of Laissac, in Aveyron, peasant concern over Mercosur

Daylight is barely breaking and the mooing is already echoing in the aisles of the large, semi-open hall. Since 6:30 a.m., dozens of calves, cows and bulls have taken their places in their metal boxes. Unloaded by trucks from around twenty departments in the South-West, the animals intended for butchery or the calves which will be sent for fattening are ready, parked, for the weekly ritual.

In one of the three largest livestock markets in France, at 8 a.m. every Tuesday, the “dealers” come on the scene. “I prefer to say merchant, horse dealer, it’s pejorative”would like to point out Jean-Paul Boyer, a livestock trader for over forty years. For more than an hour, buyers, transporters, breeders and commission agents walk the aisles. In their traditional outfit, a long black blouse and a cane or stick in hand, some 100 operators begin transactions, often secret.

Here, we still speak in old francs and we clap hands to finalize an agreement since 1977. At the helm, David Minerva, 53 years old, the mayor (without label) of Laissac-Séverac-l'Eglise, because this market belongs to this Aveyron commune, under direct management. From the top of a cabin overlooking the market, he orchestrates, microphone and walkie-talkie in hand, the ballet of purchases. “This morning, we will have around 900 animals and, as usual, trucks will then leave for Italy, Spain, perhaps the Maghrebobserves the elected official this Tuesday, November 19. The profession is worried, but business is going well. »

Traceability measures

A serenity that is not shared by the department's stakeholders at the time of the final negotiations on the treaty between the European Union and the Mercosur countries (Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay, Bolivia). “Mercosur would be a cataclysmestimates Jean-Paul Boyer, who was president of the breeders of the former Midi-Pyrénées region. But the catastrophe has been predicted since the 1990s: massive imports, multiplication of standards, money from the CAP [politique agricole commune] which does not fit into the pockets of breeders… our profession has been suffering for thirty years. »

Since the hormone veal scandal – some of which was sold here – and the mad cow crisis in the 1980s and 1990s, drastic livestock traceability measures have been put in place. This morning, when the animals enter, we systematically check their health passport. A card, green or pink, on which age, vaccination status, race and geographical origin are mentioned. An obligation in France. “We know very well that meat coming from Argentina or Brazil does not meet these standards, that the animals are loaded with antibiotics”points out Jean-Luc Lacombe, an Aveyron breeder, also at the head of a small trading company.

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