La Fageda, a great little world in a nature reserve

The factory and the farm are located on the Els Casals estate, in La Fageda d'en Jordà.

In the heart of the Natural Reserve of La Fageda d’en Jordà, within the Natural Park of the Volcanic Zone of La Garrotxa, you will find the Els Casals farm in Santa Pau (Girona). This is the space where we carry out most of our activity and which has been owned by La Fageda since the early 1980s.

In another farm in Santa Pau, La Coromina, we grow part of the cereals that feed our cows. In Olot we have a warehouse for the gardening section, and there are also our two residence homes: El Cassés, in the neighbourhood of Pla de Dalt, and El Caliu, in the centre of the city.

The farm

About 250 Friesian cows live on our farm, from which we get a part of the milk we need to make yogurts, desserts and ice cream. The rest of La Fageda’s milk comes from the cows on the nine farms of the Lletera de l’Empordà Cooperative, of which we are members.

All ten farms take care of cows in a very similar way and have the Welfair™ certificate of animal welfare, which confirms that they are well fed; they rest and move in comfortable spaces; they are in good health; they are sociable, and have a positive emotional state.

During the guided tours of the Els Casals property we walk around the farm and meet the cows and the heifers; we learn how the milking robots work where the cows enter when they want to be milked; we get to see the fans that comfort them when it is hot, and the scratchers that automatically turn on when they stop for a rub. Also, if we listen carefully, we can hear the classical baroque music that the cows listen to.

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Oh yes! Several studies confirm that certain times which could generate stress in the animal, such as birthing or milking, proceed more calmly if they are accompanied by music. Striving for the welfare of cows is one of our priorities, and that's why we play classical music on the La Fageda farm. If you want to check it out, come and pay us a visit!
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Cows that listen to classical music?

The Els Casals fields and the La Coromina estate

At Els Casals we have a large grazing area for our cows in the shelter of the Sierra del Corb. At the La Coromina farm, which we bought in 2017, we grow all the barley, all the grass and much of the corn we need to feed the cows. In turn, the dung of the cows, which we collect on the farm in an automated way, allows us to fertilize the fields of La Coromina.
This is how we move towards the circular economy. From the land to the cows and from the cows to the land.

The dairy factory, the jam factory and the innovation and quality spaces

These are the spaces where we make all our yogurts and desserts, ice cream and jams.

We send the milk of the cows from the farm through underground pipes to these facilities; we store the raw materials there; we have a laboratory from where we do all quality controls; we have a pilot plant for creating new products or improve the current ones, and from here we ship the products for distribution.

The original house

The house, which gives its name to the property, has the kitchen-dining room on its ground floor, and has two more floors for the Occupational Therapy Service, from where we serve the people most in need of support. Around it there is a landscaped area and also a health park for touching nature.

The vegetable gardens

We grow seasonal food in the greenhouses and in the outdoor gardens that we can then buy ourselves in the in-house store La Fageda Pantry. Horticultural activity plays a very important role for people most in need of support.

The visitor service

Visitors are welcomed onto the premises by the Visitor Service, equipped with two multipurpose rooms and a shop. There is also a children’s playground and a picnic area outside.

The offices of the central services

The social-labour area of La Fageda, as well as the departments of finance, management and development of people, sales and marketing, ICT and others are located in a building annexed to the factory.

The biomass boiler

Next to the factory are the maintenance services and the biomass boiler that, since 2014, produces much of the energy we need for our industrial activity in the form of steam. This represents a significant saving in propane gas consumption.

The wastewater treatment station

This is a physical-chemical and biological plant that we launched in 2019 and whose main objective is to eliminate the organic matter present in the 250 cubic metres of water that we generate on average every day in La Fageda.
This water comes mainly from the manual and automatic cleaning systems of the machinery of the factories, but also from the milking robots on the farm, from the cleaning of the tanks that store the milk and from the toilets at various points on the farm.

The residence homes and the home with support

We have two residential centres that offer continuous care and where more than thirty people live: El Caliu, in the centre of the city, and El Cassés, in an emblematic farmhouse, ceded by the Felix Llobet and Nicolau Foundation, in the neighbourhood of Plan de Dalt in Olot. In addition, four people live, more autonomously, in an apartment that we have rented, thanks to the home with support service.

The gardening warehouse

This is located in premises of 1,500 m2 in the district of Sant Roc in Olot which we acquired in 2019.

La Garrotxa

Located in the north-east of Catalonia, La Garrotxa is a region in the province of Girona made up of 21 municipalities, where the confluence of climate and two remarkably different landscapes have given rise to a unique environment in the Iberian Peninsula.

La Garrotxa includes within its territory four protected natural areas and more than 40 volcanoes and lava flows. It is no coincidence, then, that it is known as the land of volcanoes!

Forests full of magic, medieval villages full of history and a gastronomic heritage with its own Volcanic Cuisine seal are some of the attractions that make the area the best place we could be.

La Fageda d'en Jordà

The Els Casals estate, where a large part of the La Fageda team work, is located within the Fageda d’en Jordà Nature Reserve, which grows on the flow of the Croscat volcano and extends through the municipalities of Santa Pau, Olot and Les Preses.

This is a beech forest of about 4.8 km2 that belongs to the Natural Park of the Volcanic Zone of La Garrotxa, and which is surrounded by some of the volcanoes of the region. It is exceptional due to the altitude at which it is found, and which is uncommon for this type of tree. Every season, the Fageda d’en Jordà offers a spectacular display of colour, and has been the inspiration for artists such as the poet Joan Maragall.


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