The Government injects €2.5 million into La Fageda

Holy PeaceThe social project La Fageda has invested €4.2 million in new machinery at its dairy factory in Santa Pau, in the Garrotxa region. This investment will diversify production and, above all, expand employment opportunities for people with disabilities. Of this €4.2 million, €2.5 million is provided by the Catalan Government's Department of Business through the Invess-Treball Protegit program, which highlighted La Fageda's social component and emphasized that "everyone wins" with this investment, according to a press release. With the new technology, La Fageda will be able to produce new products "in demand by the market" that it has not manufactured until now. The general director, Sílvia DomènechHe explained that without this investment, "the project was at risk," since sales plummeted due to the pandemic and they were already repaying previous investments. The new production line that La Fageda has incorporated will make "the first dairy company based in Catalonia" more competitive in the market. The reason is that in two weeks the brand will be presenting its products at the Alimentaria trade fair in Barcelona. a new product line which, until now, it couldn't produce because it lacked the necessary machinery. But the investment also indirectly helps secure the jobs of the 387 people who work on this social enterprise project, 167 of whom have some form of disability. In fact, the CEO of La Fageda acknowledges that "the project was at risk" and points out that the social aspect makes the economic decisions "difficult." For example, Domènech highlighted that they could save on many staff salaries by incorporating more machinery, but then "the essential social component of La Fageda would be lost." However, with the new investment, they estimate they will be able to hire about ten more people, reports ACN. The investment plan, which has been rolled out over two and a half years, has included the acquisition of this machinery—especially mixing tanks—and carrying out renovations in various areas of the plant. All of this is aimed at expanding the product catalog, especially in the yogurt range, the brand's main specialization.

Social profitability

The Minister of Business, Miquel Sàmper, explained that with this investment, "everyone wins, without exception." "We win over public servants because we know we have a service that does what we want to do for people, and families who know their relatives are working and being cared for," Sàmper emphasized. The Director General of Social Economy and Cooperativism, David Bonvehí, expressed a similar sentiment, stating that the return on investment is much greater than the initial contribution from the Government. "Often, people make empty promises about how large the allocation is, but it isn't. This allocation is much more economical than if these people had to receive benefits," Bonvehí stressed.