Avícola Ballester, after culling 100,000 birds: "This is the world turned upside down, we kill hens and there's a shortage of eggs."

PalmThis Wednesday morning, the last truckload of chickens from the Avícola Son Perot farm in Llucmajor departed for the Spanish mainland. According to owner Onofre Ballester, speaking to ARA Baleares, this means the Llucmajor poultry farm has completed the de-escalation plan ordered by the Balearic Government in August. The government set a deadline of December 31st for the Llucmajor farm to cull chickens until its population was reduced to 40,000 due to an investigation opened against the farm following complaints from neighbors and several animal rights organizations that published videos showing birds in poor condition. Ballester explained that there are currently only 40,000 chickens left on the farm, and the rest had to be transported to slaughterhouses on the mainland to comply with the measure, "since there aren't any in the Balearic Islands," he criticized. All of this is happening against a backdrop of increased egg consumption in Spain. Demand for eggs has risen by approximately 20% since 2019, an increase attributed to the perceived nutritional and health benefits they have gained in recent years, according to the latest data published by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. For this reason, Ballester considers the regulation "the world turned upside down; we're killing hens and there's a shortage of eggs."

The government decreed this measure last August after the Directorate General for Urban Planning Harmonization and Environmental Assessment of the Balearic Islands Government rejected the application for integrated environmental authorization for the Ses Cisternetes egg-laying farm. This decision comes in addition to the unfavorable environmental impact statement issued by the same directorate general regarding this farm. As a result, the company promoting this facility must submit a verifiable plan for reducing the number of hens by December 31st to achieve the established target of reducing the number of hens by up to 40,000.

The company promoting this livestock farm, after receiving a sanction from the government's environmental agency following complaints from local residents, had requested the legalization of the facilities and authorization for a capacity of 135,696 hens, which it is currently operating. The existing poultry farm includes seven sheds, a manure storage area, and ancillary buildings. The rejection of the integrated environmental authorization, which was notified in August, also means the dismissal of this application, "since Decree Law 2/2025 established higher distance requirements from urban centers than those of the Llucmajor farm," argues Ballester. This comes in addition to the unfavorable environmental impact statement issued last July by the General Directorate of the Ministry of Housing, Territory, and Mobility, due to the significant foreseeable adverse environmental impacts of this project.