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Reading time: 1min – Video: 21min
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21min
In Argentina, the city of Pigüé has a strong link with Aveyron from which its founders come. Each year, a delegation of Aveyronnais visits its cousins in America, the opportunity to compare two breeding models, at the time of signing the free trade agreement between the EU and the Mercosur.
It’s a little bit of Aveyron in Argentina. Pigüé, a city of 20,000 inhabitants lost in the middle of the province of the Pampa. It was founded at the end of the 19th century by French emigrants, peasants from Aveyron.
Since then, we speak French there and we celebrate the birthday of the city by singing La Marseillaise. For this event, a delegation of Aveyronnais visits their cousins in America.
On both sides of the Atlantic, they are breeders and have ancestors in common. But this year, there is a dispute in the background of this celebration between farmers from the two countries: the signing of the free trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur of which Argentina is part.
It puts face to the face of French breeders exploiting small expensive plots and Argentines who freely graze their herds of thousands of cows in disproportionate pastures.
A report by Julien Fouchet, Loup Krikorian, Anaïs Dubois and Gaëlle Pidoux, broadcast in “Special Envoy” on February 20, 2025.
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