Mallorca's dairy cow producers have made a public call to stop consuming products and boycott the Grup Damm in response to the closure of the Agama plant and the decision to stop collecting milk on the island. The sector considers that the company has breached the commitment made with the farmers, which provided for maintaining collection until September to give them reorganization time.

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.

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.

Agama, owned by the Damm Group, announced this Tuesday the final closure from the Palma plant and brought an end to the last large dairy with its own production in Mallorca. The immediate impact, for now, has been felt in the countryside. Three Mallorcan livestock farms, which They depended on the central office as their main buyerThey are left in a situation of extreme fragility. progressive reduction of orders Its viability had already been strained, and the announcement of the closure confirms an uncertain scenario for farms conditioned by the additional costs of insularity and by competition from foreign products at lower prices.

The Government set December 31 as the deadline to find a solution for the General Agrarian Association of Mallorca (Agama), that will stop buying milk from producers in Mallorca in 2026However, sources within the Balearic Islands government have explained to ARA Baleares that they have extended the deadline for finding a solution for the dairy plant because "it cannot be done by the end of the year." Even so, they regretted that the original deadline had not been met and justified the delay by saying that the procedures "are slow." The government has not yet decided on a new deadline to definitively clarify Agama's future, although it is expected to be at the beginning of next year. Otherwise, "there will be no room to maneuver or reverse the situation," government sources acknowledged.

In 2024, Mallorca produced 9,708,923 liters of milk, almost three million liters less than in 2020, the year of the pandemic, when the figure exceeded 12.6 million liters. In just four years, production has fallen so sharply due to "the crisis in the dairy industries, mainly inAgama", as explained by the Director General of Agriculture, Livestock and Rural Development, Fernando Fernández.

The Government has set December 31 as the deadline to find a solution for the General Agrarian Association of Mallorca (AgamaAccording to sources within the Balearic Islands government speaking to ARA Baleares, "This is the deadline; otherwise, we won't have any room to maneuver or reverse the situation." Sources in the primary sector added that Agama will buy milk from one of the three producers who currently supply it until October 31, 2026, but emphasized that, starting March 31, this milk will no longer be processed in Mallorca because Damm's lease agreement with Comercial Bordoy for the facilities will expire. The situation at Agama is causing concern among farmers and agricultural associations. Joan Gaià, coordinator of Unió de Pagesos, warned in the Balearic Parliament that the closure of Agama would be "an attack on the food sovereignty" of the Balearic Islands. He also listed other issues that worry farmers, such as the lack of social consideration and the effects of climate change. "What country in the world can afford to do without the dairy industry? It's very important and continues to be a loss leader in supermarkets, which is what has brought the state and Mallorcan sectors to where they are today," he stressed. Gaià lamented that there hasn't been enough self-criticism and that no one has been "brave enough" to raise their voices against the closure of Agama. "The interests of a business group cannot take precedence over those of a people. Closing Agama is an attack on the food sovereignty of the people of the Balearic Islands," he insisted.

He Government The Ministry of Agriculture is already preparing the report to withdraw the strategic industrial project designation it granted to Agama twenty months before the dairy announced that it would stop purchasing milk from producers in Mallorca in 2026, according to government sources confirmed to ARA Baleares. "Some meetings are still needed," they added. On December 1, 2023, the Governing Council declared the importance of the project proposed at the time by Damm, the company that owns Agama.

The star product of the Mallorcan General Agrarian Association (Agama) and at the same time the chocolate milkshake that characterized the childhoods of many Mallorcans, Laccao in a glass bottle, is no longer made "neither in Mallorca nor with milk from the island," say company sources. "Only the carton is made, and when requested," they add. In 1944, the French dairy company Lactel, together with a pharmacist from Palma, created Laccao, which, as Lluís Sitjar's loudspeakers announced for years, was "the drink for athletes."

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.

Baltasar Martí sold milk to the General Agrarian Association of Mallorca (Agama) for 42 years. He still remembers how they handled it when he started. "We put it in 40-liter pots and loaded them onto a truck just like the ones used today to transport gravel," he says. He claims that if it were up to him, he would have closed the dairy farm in September of this year. "But Agama made me close nine months earlier than I wanted," he laments.

On the first day of the general policy debate in Parliament, the President of the Government, Marga Prohens, stated this Tuesday that "the deception in the Administration for the declaration as a strategic project conditioned to the maintenance of a symbol of the food industry such as Agama, which has not been fulfilled, will not go unpunished." As ARA Baleares advanced, the Government is considering withdrawing the declaration that the Executive granted to Agama only 20 months before the company announced that In 2026, it would stop buying milk in Mallorca.

Despite concerns surrounding the future of Agama after the company announced to the farmers who will no longer buy milk from them in 2026Less than two years ago, the Government declared the dairy project a strategic one. On December 1, 2023, the Governing Council decreed the importance of the project then proposed by the company that owns Agama, Damm SA. Regarding dairy production, the proposal, which was expected to receive funding from the European Next Generation funds, included improvement actions "and the consolidation of the product processing plant."

This summer, Miquel Vanrell, the owner of the Son Carbó dairy farm (Campos) – the largest in Mallorca with 300 cows per milking – invested almost two million euros in milking machines and a cow shed, with subsidies covering nearly 700,000. However, Agama (which is its only client) has announced that it will stop buying milk in Mallorca next year because "sales have fallen significantly," as Vanrell explained to ARA Baleares.

In 2026 Agama will stop purchasing milk from dairy farms in Mallorca. This fact worries not only the island's farmers but also the factory workers, who don't know what will happen to their future. "We are afraid the company will close," Jesús Ávila, the legal representative of the Agama workers, told ARA Baleares. The reduction in milk purchases from local dairy farms could also lead to a decrease in the production of products at the factory, "which is experiencing its darkest moment," according to a statement issued by the company's Legal Representation of Workers (RLT).

The crisis in the Mallorcan dairy sector continues to worsen, and a new source of concern has emerged that could jeopardize the economic viability of the island's dairies: Agama, which belongs to the Damm group, has announced that it will no longer purchase milk from them starting next year. This was reported by the newspaper this Saturday. Breaking News, which details that Agama has already informed three of the largest dairies on the island.

If we consult the Dictionary of the Institute of Catalan Studies (DIEC2), milk is the "white or yellowish fluid secreted by the mammary glands of female mammals, which serves to nourish their young." This is surely the restrictive definition defended by part of the dairy industry—ignoring the last part of the definition, it is clear: "For the nourishment of their young"—especially in relation to European regulations governing trade names.