This year’s gala, which recognizes excellence in the pig industry, was held at the La Llotja Conference Centre in Lleida and was attended by more than 650 guests from the industry and associated bodies including Joaquim Llena (Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Action of the Generalitat of Catalonia), Josep Puxeu (Secretary of State for Rural Affairs and Water at the Ministry for the Environment and Marine and Rural Affairs), Àngel Ros (Mayor of Lleida), Josep Maria Monfort (Director General of IRTA) and Juan Carlos Castillejo (Director General of Pfizer Salud Animal (Pfizer Animal Health).

At the 17th edition of the awards ceremony, all eyes were on Granja Castellets, of Taradell (Barcelona), as it picked up the 2010 Golden Pig with Diamond Special Award for the second year running.

The night was a rounding success for Granja Castellets. Besides picking up the main award, it also collected a gold for Numerical Production and a silver for Live Births.

The night’s main winner is an awards ceremony veteran, having won the Top Productivity Special Award in 2007 and 2008 and the Golden Pig with Diamond Award last year. The farm comprises 570 production sows and 30 breeding sows. Director Manel Berenguer stressed the daily sacrifice made by his staff and recognized that “an award like this makes you forget all the bitter moments you have overcome“.

The IRTA’s Special Award for Health, Environment and Animal Welfare went to La Granja de Ves of Balsa de Ves (Albacete, Castile La Mancha), part of the Afrivall-Vall Companys Group. The award recognizes this Albacete farm as a model in terms of health, the environment and animal welfare.

The Golden Pig Top Productivity Special Award was won by the El Sas farm in Candasnos (Huesca), owned by CINCAPORC, based in Fraga (Huesca). Its figure of 32.06 weaned piglets a year is a record for the awards.

Some 85 pig producers entered this year’s Golden Pig Awards. As in every previous year, Catalonia and Aragon were the two autonomous Spanish communities that won the most awards. A total of 13 Catalan producers received 17 awards and 8 from Aragon returned home with 9 trophies. The remainder went to producers in Navarre (8 awards), Castile La Mancha (3), Galicia (3), Castile and León (3), Valencia (1) and the Basque Country (1).