page_title: Cantal
section_title: Economy
hierarchical_section_title: Cantal / Economy
caption_attribution_description: Aubrac cows on the Plomb du Cantal
context_page_description: Cantal is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France, with its prefecture in Aurillac. Its other principal towns are Saint-Flour and Mauriac and its residents are known as Cantalians. Cantal borders the departments of Puy-de-Dôme, Haute-Loire, Aveyron, Lot, Lozère and Corrèze, in the Massif Central natural region.
  Along with Lozère and Creuse, Cantal is among the most sparsely populated and geographically isolated departments of France and Aurillac is the departmental capital farthest removed from a major motorway. It had a population of 145,969 in 2016, making it the country's 97th most populated department.
context_section_description: The climate being generally too cool and damp for grain, much of Cantal is given over to pasture for Aubrac and Salers cattle, sheep, and, formerly, horses. This in turn supports a dairy industry responsible for butter and Roquefort cheese and the appellation-controlled cheeses Cantal, Salers, and Bleu d'Auvergne. Cantal is the French department with the greatest number of appellation-controlled cheeses, although proper Roquefort is now restricted to cheese produced in the Aveyron department. The region's mineral products include coal, copper, lead, iron, antimony, granite, slate and lime, but the department's isolation and poor infrastructure long precluded their exploitation. Before the First World War, the primary exports were livestock, cheese, butter, and coal and the main imports were coal, wine, grain, flour, and pottery. By then, it had been connected to both the Orleans and Midi railways.
  Traditionally, many Cantalians roamed France during the year plying humble trades but now the area's relative lack of industry and development permits tourism. An area has been set aside as the Auvergne Volcanos Regional Park (Parc Regional des Volcans d’Auvergne).
caption: Aubrac cattle on the Plomb du Cantal
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