La Martona
La Martona is an Argentine dairy brand with a long history. It started in 1889 when Vicente Lorenzo Casares founded the company in Cañuelas, Buenos Aires. It was Argentina’s first major dairy firm and controlled almost every step of the business, from production to distribution.
The company was a pioneer in milk processing. It helped introduce pasteurization in Argentina and brought in modern machinery from Europe and the United States. La Martona also led packaging innovations, first using parchment paper for butter in the 1890s.
La Martona began exporting early. In 1893 it started selling products to the United Kingdom, and in 1902 it began producing dulce de leche. By 1908 Argentina was one of the world’s top yogurt producers, with La Martona playing a key role in the industry. The company’s scale and innovation earned international attention; a 1915 article called La Martona “the biggest milk farm in the world,” noting its machinery, clean operations, and export volume (butter from a herd of about 18,000 cows).
Technological advances continued: in 1916 La Martona imported Argentina’s first milk separator from Germany, and in 1923 it brought its first packaging machines from Switzerland. Between 1935 and 1941 the company started using refrigerated transport, and its retail network expanded with many lecherías (dairy shops).
In 1942, Estancias Martona S.A. was created as the company’s animal-husbandry division. It covered about 22,000 hectares across eight towns, with roughly 17,000 Holando-Argentino cows and 1,200 pedigree cattle. The operation included 70 dairies and could milk about 4,800 cows per day.
La Martona ceased operations in 1978 and went bankrupt. Its brand was bought in a court sale by Mastellone Hnos. (La Serenísima) for a token AR$1, and the brand’s rights were kept by the buyer. In 2019 La Serenísima launched a line of products under the La Martona name.
The company also built a recognizable image, including a cat’s head logo used in branding. Legendary writers Jorge Luis Borges and Bioy Casares (Vicente Casares’ grandson) contributed to advertising for La Martona, promoting its sour milk and other dairy products.
Today, La Martona remains a brand under Mastellone Hnos., sold alongside other brands like La Armonía.
This page was last edited on 1 February 2026, at 22:34 (CET).