ASSOCIATED WITH ENGINEERING: "ENGINEERING AND RAFELET MILL ARE MY PASSIONS

Rafel Margalef Llauradó, collegiate 13854

Engineer and co-owner of the Molí de Rafelet

Rafel Margalef is an engineer, a member of the College of Industrial Technical Engineers of Tarragona. From a young age, Rafel grew up living in the rice mill of his house. Today it is known as the Molí de Rafelet, which it jointly manages with its sister. Both engineering and farming in the Molí are his passions. He tells us in this interview.

1. Are you an engineer, what type of projects do you develop?

  I really do projects on my own, for activities, electrical projects, construction projects and industrial buildings. Also of urbanization and environment as well as of industry. My engineering is small, I work for myself with the collaboration of someone.

I’ve been in the engineering world for over twenty years, I used to go out of the territory before, but now I focus more here on the Delta area and the demarcation. However, the knowledge of small businesses and friends from outside the Delta area means that if they need anything, they can also carry out a project or give them directions on who to do it with.

2. Combine this work with the exploitation of the Molí de Rafelet, what is it like to combine these two worlds?

It is an auteur mill built between my grandfather and my father. In 2002 my sister and I took the reins and we are passionate. We carry it in our blood, we were raised in the mill, our father passed it on to us and he made us live, I have memories from this childhood in this house. It is ultimately a passion that our father taught us. Today, few mechanics enter the Molí. Engineering and rice for me are two worlds that complement each other to get everything going is important prioritization. The two worlds I am passionate about are one that I have lived at home and the decision taken with my sister was the creation of the Molí de Rafelet brand and move it forward, the other option would have been to leave it and it was not like that. .

We carry the world of rice in our blood and somehow we are promoting it as industrial and agricultural tourism as well. We do, as many wineries do with wine, visits to those who want to meet us. We are farmers too, but we focus on milling.

3. What does it apply from the world of agriculture to the world of engineering and vice versa?

  I think both things come to me from living it as a child, from learning how it worked. As a kid, I used to watch mechanics come in and be amazed. I like the world I carry it in my blood, my father owned the mill and he taught us everything we know. As for the new stage selling, marketing, maintenance and that’s why I did engineering. If my father had been a builder maybe he would have done architecture, we will not know what he did do is teach us this passion.

4. Making rice is cyclical and you have an end result. How is this for you in an engineering project?

  The crop is cyclical rice milling is not. In our case we do it daily and continuously. It’s not like an oil mill, we make rice everyday, artisanal, different from the big industry, more unique and more authentic. I compare it like any engineering project, that company and client wants modifications and extensions. Making and grinding rice is more than that.

5. I understand that they are two passions, is there one that you like best?

  I’m single and I don’t have kids, but when I’m asked this question I explain what it’s like to choose between a child, there are moments of everything, but you can’t choose between children or between these two passions.

6. How has this pandemic lived in the world of engineering and in the world of agriculture?

  As the engineering is small and the mill are also complicated times for everyone. There are people who close businesses and don’t follow through. There are sectors that work and others that don’t. We hope this pandemic ends soon. We may not return as before, but we can try to do things and raise our heads.

RAFELET MILL

  It is a family business dedicated to the cultivation and grinding of artisanal since 1910. Molí de Rafelet rice boasts of being unique and attributes it to the fact that it does not contain preservatives, to be vacuum-packed and processed under traditional and artisanal parameters.

The Margalefs have been making the best artisanal rice dishes in the Ebro Delta for more than 100 years, still today using the wooden rice mill that Rafel Margalef built between 1935 and 1940.

www.moliderafelet.com

C. Sant Roc, 8

DeltebrePhone

977 4826 42