Some of the important figures include the Director-General of Agricultural Production and Markets from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment (MAGRAMA), Carlos Cabanas, the Director of the National Association of Pork Producers (ANPROGAPOR), Miguel Ángel Higuera, and IRTA's CEO, Josep M. Monfort. They have signed a collaboration agreement between the institutions they represent, to promote and exploit the Spanish Swine Database (BDPorc).

An aid for decision-making and for a better technical knowledge of the sector

The Spanish Reference Swine Database (BDPorc) was created to ensure a reliable reference database to allow obtaining objective elements for the follow up and control of technical-economical results from Spanish swine exploitations. Initially, it was conceived to place information and elements in the hands of the pig sector as an aid for decision-making during the planning of productive strategies; furthermore, BDPorc is a platform for assessing the various technical aspects of Spanish swine production and development of research for the sector.

Currently, BDporc has collected over 30% of the Spanish breeding census. This agreement also aims easing and promoting the incorporation of new exploitations. This year, a Technical-Economical BDporc has also been launched, with information on production costs and economic margins, and recently, the Iberian Spanish Reference Database (BDporc Ibérico) was created, gathering to date the data of over 20,000 breeders.

Over the last 20 years, BDporc, managed by IRTA, has allowed the swine industry to have knowledge and assess the situation regarding their exploitations in comparison to the reference standards in the sector, receive detailed quarterly reports, and access e-BDPorc, the online tool that offers immediate, safe, and regular access, to updated information on a series of advanced tools for automatically analyzing data and systematic comparison with the reference values.

The basis of the Porc d’Or Awards

Last but not least, it is important to point out that BDPorc is the database used as a basis to grant the Porc d’Or awards. These awards (gold, silver, and bronze for each category), yearly recognize the best pig exploitations adhered to BDPorc. The Porc d’Or Awards are a prestigious recognition of the daily work carried out by the best pig exploitations whose productivity increases every year.

This year´s the Porc d’Or ceremony, in its 20th edition, will take place in Zaragoza next 22 November.