The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Natural Environment, through the Directorate General for Agri-food Quality and Local Product, has opened two proceedings against the Damm group for using the name Mallorca in direct relation to Laccao. A brand that no longer has any connection with the island and that is a 100% Catalan product.

The story ofAgama in Mallorca It could have ended differently. The Damm group Agama was open to handing over the factory and the Agama brand, but after months of negotiations, the proposal was rejected. This offer came during talks to create a cooperative in Mallorca to manage dairy production on the island, bringing together the Balearic government, Agama workers, farmers, and some private investors. What was meant to be a lifeline for Mallorca's dairy sector failed to materialize and has led to its collapse and demise.another part of the Balearic Islands industry.

He closure of the Agama factory, owned by DammThis represents a further economic loss for the primary sector of the Balearic Islands. The portion of the subsidy that the brewery received The funds allocated to European Union and Spanish Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries will be returned to the European Union and Spanish government budgets, respectively. No investment will be made in other potential businesses in the sector that could have received the funds had Damm not requested them and subsequently closed the factory.

Outrage, rejection, and anger from the Agama workers because of the attitude of the Ministry of Agriculture towards the factory closure in PalmaThis was explained by Jesús Ávila, spokesperson for the workers of the Mallorcan dairy, on ARA Baleares. "They haven't wanted to meet with us for three months," Ávila stated. According to the workers, since the announcement that the cooperative project was being scrapped, they have been trying unsuccessfully to meet with Regional Minister Joan Simonet, even though the factory has already closed. The workers criticize the fact that no one has informed them of the reasons for the cooperative's failure and the factory's closure, "even though they were part of the initial negotiating table." When Damm made the closure public from the factory was more than possiblethe option arose to create a cooperative project with the workers, the Ministry of Agriculture and AgamaEverything seemed to be going well, but the Regional Ministry and Damm excluded the workers, who had conceived the project, from the negotiations, despite their requests to participate and be informed about the initiative's progress. They also claim they have been "ignored" and that "the situation hasn't changed." "Even though the factory has closed, we still haven't received any answers or been able to talk to anyone," they complain.

Damm will have to return 1.1 million euros to the Government of the subsidy it received within the framework of the transformation of the primary sector, after announcing the closure of the Agama factory in Palma and to fail to comply with the established regulations. This is provided that the file opened by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Natural Environment confirms what is already evident: the conditions established in the terms and conditions have not been met, since these require maintaining the activity for five years from the date the public aid is received.

Risk maps of avian flu The weekly reports received by the Balearic Government "indicate a very worrying progression" in the Islands, as announced this Tuesday by the Director General of Agriculture, Livestock and Rural Development, Fernando Fernández, during the presentation of the animal health report and the main control systems in the Balearic Islands. "We are at the critical point of risk for avian flu," he insisted. However, he celebrated that there are no outbreaks of the disease in the Balearic Islands and assured that the strategy adopted by the Executive to address it "is working well." The Government has relaxed the measures imposed by the Spanish government, since the ministerial order states that the autonomous communities can adjust the measures to adapt them to the realities of their farms, and has not confined the birds. However, last month the Executive tightened precautions and extended the measure to all municipalities in the Islands. The Ministry of Agriculture has also activated preventative measures, such as the confinement of birds when their protection from contact with wild birds cannot be guaranteed, the prohibition of poultry fairs and markets, and the reinforcement of epidemiological surveillance, especially in wetlands and migratory route areas. In this regard, a new unified protocol for the detection of avian influenza has been developed, targeting wild birds, poultry, captive birds, and game birds. During 2025, controls were increased by 64 percent compared to the national program, with 61 actions taken, while in 2024, 37 were carried out. "However, we are particularly concerned about the low reporting of moribund or dead wild birds for sampling," the director explained.

No clucking, no cooing, no hooting, no crowing, no nervousness from the decoy hunters, not even a single feather. This has been the dominant theme at the Montuïri Partridge Fair this morning. All the hustle and bustle of hunters and decoy hunters has turned into heated discussions about the absence of partridges and the refusal of the Regional Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Agriculture to allow the 46th edition of the Montuïri Partridge Fair due to the restrictions imposed by the avian flu health crisis.

Mallorca's hoteliers believe it is a mistake to ensure the viability of the agricultural sector by creating more tourist accommodations and have asked the Ministry of Agriculture, in their objections to the agricultural law, not to generate additional lodging capacity. The hoteliers' objections are not limited to criticizing the touristification of the agricultural sector; they also demand that the Government truly prioritize the primary sector and declare it an essential and strategic service, so that more public resources are allocated to it systematically and regularly. The document from the Mallorca Hotel Business Federation (FEHM) proposes "giving the agricultural sector the treatment it deserves," explained FEHM Executive Vice President María José Aguiló. The hoteliers propose working with a specific framework for the primary sector that includes official recognition and allows for the financing of productive activities and support due to their strategic importance. "They generate value, food, landscape, and there is a consensus on their importance. But what we absolutely cannot understand is the proposal to make them viable by orienting them towards tourism," lamented Aguiló. In this regard, the hoteliers believe that "all possibilities must be explored, from increasing the ecotax funds for the sector to demanding that, with a formal declaration of the sector as strategic and essential, European and state funds be secured, given their undeniable contribution to the wealth of the Islands," he explained. This refers to the draft agricultural law, whose public consultation has just ended. Another criticism from the hoteliers is that the Ministry of Agriculture can authorize new agricultural estates within rural land without taking into account that the powers in this matter belong exclusively "to the island councils, which are thus being overruled." "The councils are the ones who should decide what can and cannot be done on rural land. Furthermore, promoting new accommodations in the countryside is to distort its character and go against the spirit of the primary sector," Aguiló lamented. Hoteliers believe that if there is a significant debate about overcrowding, it makes no sense to promote it in the countryside with more tourists. "We already know what happened when we put tourists in apartments, and now we want to put them in the countryside?" the vice president asked. The regulation has received a barrage of criticism, especially because it introduces tourist and residential categories into rural areas. Even the Tourism Promotion Association, an organization that rarely comments on draft legislation, has sent a letter to President Marga Prohens warning that its members "are upset and concerned about initiatives such as the proposed agricultural law," because "it introduces aspects that could extend beyond the scope of agricultural activity and distort its nature." This organization also considers it important to limit the products that can be sold directly and the activities that can be carried out in order "not to create unfair competition with agritourism and other legally established sectors."

Farmers, professionals, and organizations such as the GOB (National Agricultural Association), Unió de Pagesos (Union of Pagesos), and the organic producers' association Apaema (Apaema) have demanded that the government fundamentally amend the draft agrarian law because it "will disfigure the countryside" and have criticized the current wording as an initiative to promote urban and tourism uses that "will end up converting farms into hotels." They also regret that the law is not being used to "promote true food sovereignty and to seriously help make agricultural activity viable on the islands," according to spokespersons for these associations told ARA Baleares. There are some points of agreement among the organizations and professionals who have presented objections, particularly regarding criticism of the urban, tourist, and speculative orientation of the countryside, which instead focuses on improving food production, which "is the basis of any agricultural regulation." The environmentalists are calling for the government to withdraw the law as drafted.

The Balearic Islands' countryside could welcome thousands of new tourist spots if the new agricultural law drafted by Minister Joan Simonet's team is approved. The law was shared with agricultural and professional associations before submitting the text to Parliament. Professional farms will be able to have up to 10 spots to accommodate visitors and may also expand existing buildings by up to 20% to carry out this leisure activity. The most important requirement for converting agricultural properties into tourist farms is that they must have been registered for four years and that tourism must be formally considered a complementary activity.

The workers of the General Agrarian Association of Mallorca (Agama) met this Thursday with the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Agriculture to find solutions to the crisis currently affecting the dairy plant, which will be closed next year will stop buying milk from dairy farms in MallorcaNeither the employees nor the government have yet met with Agama's management to discuss their future and that of the company.

The Regional Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and the Environment has declared Mallorca an area affected by the bluetongue virus serotype three. The government has declared a health emergency after confirming a positive outbreak on a sheep farm in Bunyola, which has 156 animals. Although only one outbreak has been detected, the government is monitoring two cases in the same health zone that were reported this weekend, and samples from them will be sent to the state reference laboratory in Algete.

He knows firsthand the harshness of the primary sector in the Balearic Islands. Before becoming the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Environment, Joan Simonet (Alaró, 1973) was on the other side of the table as manager of the employers' association Asaja. He sets the guidelines for a minority sector that is increasingly facing diminishing opportunities and problems.

The Government presented this Thursday the manual for the use of the local product logo, with the aim of promoting it and distinguishing it from the rest. The document, which is now available on the Government website, lists the local product logos approved by the Executive with the consensus and approval of agricultural organizations, as well as their conditions for use. The use of the logos is voluntary and serves to indicate the origin or place of provenance of products, and can also be incorporated into labels.