The closure of Agama has posed a problem that goes far beyond a single factory: what to do with the milk still produced by the few dairy farms left in Mallorca. Quesos Grimalt has decided to turn this challenge into an opportunity. The Mallorcan company, which has specialized in the artisanal production of cheeses and dairy products since 1948, has set itself the goal of increasing the consumption of local dairy products to prevent the island’s milk from having to be sent to the mainland due to a lack of demand.
The scope of the challenge is considerable. After the closure of the Agama plant, part of the Damm group, on March 3, Quesos Grimalt has taken over the management of about 5.2 million liters of milk annually from seven of the nine dairy farms currently operating in Mallorca.
The problem is not so much the industrial capacity as the market’s ability to absorb it. The company could turn all that milk into cheese, but there is currently not enough demand to increase production. “Quesos Grimalt has the capacity to turn all the milk it handles into cheese, but the current demand for the product does not allow for an increase in production. For this reason, some of the milk is sent to Valencia,” explains the company’s director, Pedro Monroig.
The company now faces a twofold challenge. The first is to modernize its facilities to expand production and diversify into new dairy products, including fresh milk. The second challenge, perhaps more complex, is to convince Mallorcan consumers that local dairy products deserve a larger share of their grocery shopping. “Without the support of the island’s people, there is no future for the sector,” warns Monroig.
The scope of the change is best illustrated by one figure: a few years ago, Mallorca had more than 100 dairy farms. Today, only nine remain. This collapse has left the local dairy sector in a precarious situation, with fewer farmers, less raw milk, and also less capacity to process and market the product on the island itself.
It is precisely in this context that Quesos Grimalt has decided to restructure its business. The company has just begun a new phase with the arrival of new partners, with the goal of being better prepared to face the new challenges facing the sector. Among these is SAT Son Carbó. IGD Asesores has also joined the initiative; this family consultancy had worked with Son Carbó for years and, in light of the situation facing the sector, decided to get directly involved in the project, ultimately becoming a partner.
For Quesos Grimalt, this move represents more than a simple change in shareholding. It is an attempt to strengthen its position at a time when maintaining the full production cycle in Mallorca—from farm to consumer—has become one of the sector’s greatest challenges. This is because the future of Mallorcan milk doesn’t just depend on how much milk its farmers can produce, or how much a cheese factory can process. It also depends on there being a market willing to consume it. And that is what Grimalt now wants to focus his efforts on: ensuring that a larger proportion of the milk produced in Mallorca stays in Mallorca.