Manacor faces the mega-farm of 80,000 chickens: "Mallorca can no longer take more"

ManacorThe Manacor City Council urged the Government this Monday to stop the project to build a mega-farm with 80,000 laying hens on the Son Brau estate. The proposal received the support of all municipal groups, both from the parties forming the government team (MÉS-Esquerra, PSOE, and AIPC) and from the Popular Party. Only Vox distanced itself. The Consistory bases its request on a series of unfavorable environmental reports issued by municipal technicians.

The decision came after a rally in Plaça del Convent, where dozens of people demonstrated against the project promoted by the company Son Perot. Participants displayed banners calling on the Government and the City Council to stop the initiative and denounced a model "that is pushing Mallorca even further to the limit," according to the spokesperson for the platform No Macrogranja Son Brau, Sílvia Llull, a resident of the future poultry farms.

The protest also moved to the plenary hall, where the ordinary session of July was held. "In record time, we have managed to mobilize all these people," stated Llull. The platform claims to have already collected nearly 4,000 signatures against the project. "The people speak for themselves. Mallorca can't take any more... we will continue until the end," she warned.

The rejection of the mega-farm united all municipal groups except Vox. The PP spokesperson, Maria Antònia Sansó, defended the favorable vote, stating that "above all else are the people of Manacor." Vox, on the other hand, attacked the demonstrators, which provoked whistles and shouts from the audience. "Later you will all want eggs, and how do we make them? In cartons?" the group quipped, also arguing that these types of farms "employ local people" and added: "If you don't want them [mega-farms], we can all become vegans".

"The hens will be free-range"

Avícola Son Perot SA responded to the plenary session's agreement with a press release recalling that the Son Brau project "is currently being processed and is subject to the procedures and reports required by urban planning, environmental, health, and animal welfare regulations". The company emphasizes that the initiative's viability will depend "exclusively on compliance with legal requirements and the pronouncements of the competent bodies".

The company, which has already announced it will not make statements, argues that the new farm complies with European animal welfare standards. According to its explanation, "the hens will be raised on the ground and will be free-range, without cages", and the facilities will incorporate measures to minimize environmental impact, such as waste management systems, optimization of water consumption, emission control, odor reduction, and respect for legal distances from inhabited areas.

Furthermore, Son Perot demands legal certainty so that investments can be planned long-term and argues that the modernization of the sector will guarantee employment and the continuity of local businesses. It also argues that the increase in egg demand —"not only due to tourism"— makes an increase in local production necessary and warns that reducing it would lead to greater external dependence and a higher carbon footprint.

Finally, the company maintains that modern livestock farming is compatible with territorial protection and argues that the future of Mallorca's agri-food sector must be decided based on objective data, scientific criteria, and compliance with the law. The platform No Macrogranja Son Brau, however, maintains its rejection of the project and has already announced new actions to try to prevent the farm from being built.