Damm offered the Agama factory and brand to the cattle farmers

PalmThe 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.

When it seemed that everything was going well and after almost half a year of negotiationsThe project was cut short. One of the farmers withdrew, and the project collapsed because they didn't have enough milk to continue. According to sources... the negotiations In this newspaper, the withdrawing farmer received another offer and "abandoned the rest of the cooperative." Shortly afterward, the main financier also announced his withdrawal from the project, and this was the final blow that precipitated the announcement of the Closure of the Agama factory in Palma after almost 70 years of historySources within the Damm group confirm that their offer was to transfer 100% of the industrial assets for life and the Agama brand for the next 10 years (with an option to renew the transfer or potential negotiations for a purchase). Although the terms of the transfer have not been made public, both the Government of the Balearic Islands As the workers at the Agama factory in Palma confirmed, it was "a great offer." The brewery also explained that it was prepared to provide the "necessary support" to keep the factory and the Agama brand operational.

The decision of the cattle rancher and the financier These were the factors that derailed both the negotiations with Damm to keep the Agama factory operating under the historic brand's name, and the cooperative project and the potential transfer of the necessary industrial machinery. The demise of this project goes beyond Agama's heritage value in Mallorca; it also signifies the death (at least for now) of the dairy sector on the island. "If you don't have milk, there's no possibility of creating a new project; this is the sad reality," explains Jesús Ávila, spokesperson for the Agama workers.

In fact, last week, and before that the layoff plan for the factory workers was made officialThe workers met with the Minister of Agriculture, Joan Simonet. After many [measures/measures/etc.] months of waiting for this meeting and protestsThe meeting brought no change, since, according to Ávila, "there was nothing left to do; we were notified too late, and the regional minister acknowledged it." In fact, according to the workers' spokesperson, at the meeting they raised the option of resuming the cooperative project or exploring ways to revive the dairy sector, but Simonet told them that "for now, nothing will be done."

This Tuesday, the regional minister acknowledged during the plenary session of the Balearic Parliament that the dairy farming sector in Mallorca has definitively died, at least for now. In this regard, after harshly criticizing Damm for the closure of Agama and blaming the farmers for the sector's demise, he defended himself, asserting that "the government can't put cows in the farms and milk them."

Regarding Damm, Simonet was very critical and asserted that "Damm's arrival is the trigger for Agama's closure; local control was lost, and the brewery is a multinational with other priorities; it doesn't care what happens to a local company."Damm has not played fair."He stated. However, he did acknowledge that the Executive and his company "bear some responsibility," but reaffirmed that "they couldn't do more than they have done."

Of the three large dairy farms that remained active on the island and that sold the milk in Agama (Son Carbó, Ses Veles, and Son Bernat) – one of them has already sold all its cows and closed, and the other two seem to have opted to export their milk outside of Mallorca. As a result, milk produced in Mallorca from Mallorcan cows will disappear from the market, and island residents will be forced to drink imported milk from other regions at all costs.