Farmers block the A64 motorway near the southern French town of Carbonne in protest against the government's animal health policy in response to contagious nodular dermatitis, on December 13, 2025. MORGAN FACHE/DIVERGENCE FOR LE MONDE
Around 60 blue, green and red tractors, neatly lined up like massive animals, blocked a 300-meter stretch of the A64 highway near the southern French town of Carbonne, 40 kilometers south of the city of Toulouse, on Saturday, December 13. A few braziers were lit for warmth. There was beer, hot coffee and cakes, brought by locals "in support" of the protest and farmers, who took turns at the blockade after feeding and milking their animals.
"This shouldn't become a party, but rather a place of resistance," said Jérôme Bayle, the spokesperson for the "A64 ultras" protest group. A former rugby player turned livestock farmer, who found his father dead by suicide in his farmyard 10 years ago, Bayle has become the leader of the south-western French livestock farmers' protests. Faced with an epidemic of contagious nodular dermatitis, widely known as lumpy skin disease, they have rejected the government's policy of systematically culling herds upon detecting an infected animal.
