INDUSTRIES
Menorca is fortunate in having three industries: agriculture, manufactures and tourism.

Agriculture
We have seen when considering the makings of modern Menorca that there was a move away from the land in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, due mainly to the growth of the footwear industry. This fall in the rural population accelerated in the ten years from 1955 to 1965, for similar reasons, and now only about 10 per cent still live off the land. This, however, has provided the necessary stimulus to channel farming into new ways, which have proved extremely successful.
Knowledge of the island's geology has been used to assess the potential of individual soils. The island's two geological zones south and north - known traditionally by the Menorcan countryman as Migjorn ('Land of the south wind') and Tramontana ('Land of the north wind'), differ agriculturally. As the south is essentially a limestone plateau, the soil is relatively light and retains the warmth of the sun. Although it is excessively stony, it has been favoured from time immemorial by Menorcan farmers.
By contrast much of the soil in the north has a silica content, which makes it less absorbent of moisture and warmth, and its fertility is more variable, owing to the overlay of different geological strata. In less sheltered parts the fury of the Tramontana causes erosion, and the pattern of dividing-walls found in the south is absent. Lagoons, which were caused by poor drainage and stagnant water, at one time made the north malarial, and its unhealthiness probably contributed to its late development. Today, with modern techniques, some of the largest and most productive farms are in the north.
In achieving this, mechanisation has helped the farmer to till his land with fewer workers. The Roman plough drawn by oxen has survived into the present century - and is still occasionally seen - for its shallow furrow was all that was possible in the thin, stony soil. The modern rotovator used in orchards and market gardening in other countries was the answer, and on the larger fields in the north tractors became increasingly common. Although many farms in Menorca are run either by their owners or by tenant farmers, in recent years, some co-operative schemes have been introduced with official backing, with a view to cutting costs.

Although Menorcan farmers still grow wheat, barley, oats, potatoes and vegetables, they have now turned to extensive cattle-rearing for milk, cheese and export of beef. One often sees healthy Friesian cattle in the green irrigated fields. Sheep are also intensively reared. Scientific selection of cattle stock and artificial insemination are carried out. 
In place of the numerous windmills and ancient Persian-style water wheels propelled by oxen, increased irrigation and sinking of wells have been encouraged by the National Settlement Institute. This has done much to overcome the problems of drought, which previously caused the deaths of thousands of livestock and famine. Hundreds of sprinklers distribute the water from artesian wells, which are tapped by mechanical means.
This adoption of animal husbandry is in some ways a return to the pattern of farming in early times. It will be remembered that one of the ancient names for the island was Meloussa - the island of cattle - and we have seen that in the Middle Ages much of the wealth of the large farms came from the production of wool.

Manufactures
The three main manufactured products are cheese, footwear and costume jewellery. Cheese production is largely carried out in modern automated factories, using the milk from a large proportion of the island's cattle. 
However, traditional full cream cheese is still produced on the farms. Eighty per cent of the factory-made cheese is exported to the Spanish peninsula where it is famous, and the amount increases annually. 
In the past much of the footwear manufacture - like the jewellery - was carried out as a cottage industry or by small family businesses. But there is now a move towards production in automated factories, which with admirable foresight have been concentrated in industrial estates on the outskirts of the two main towns, so that they do not spoil the beauty of the island. An example is the ‘Poligono Industral’ outside Mahon, which includes a trades exhibition hall.
The shoe industry employs 50 per cent of the island's labour market. Ciutadela specialises in ladies' shoes. Their style and workmanship have a European reputation and are bought by Paris fashion houses. Mercadal specialises in men's sandals of soft cowhide with soles of tyre (rubber, guaranteed for 5,000 miles!). Alaior's craftsmen make men's shoes, and have supplied foreign  Royalty. Mahon makes slippers. 
The manufacture of costume jewellery employs a significant percentage of the working population, and there are numbers of home workers as well as those in factories. The product is artistic in design and of excellent craftsmanship, and has its roots in the work of silversmiths in the nineteenth century.

These trades, shoe, and jewellery-making (once suppliers to Christian Dior) suggest that Minorcans are clever with their hands, and this is borne out by a variety of other small industries. Among these are electrical accessories, leatherwork and toys. 
Another factory one can visit in Mahon makes gin, and the visitor is invited to taste a sample. It is also made at Ferreries. It was a British introduction in the eighteenth century, and is said to be made to the original English recipe. A second industry which had British beginnings was furniture-making, based on a tradition of Chippendale and Hepplewhite (sadly now closed). Modern Minorcan furniture can be of high quality and attractive design, and some of the original antique furniture can still be found in private houses like the Golden Farm at Mahon and  other 18th and 19th century houses.
 

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