Morante Farm of Piensos Costa received the MAPA Porc d’Or Ibérico Sustainability Award 2025
Morante Farm, owned by Piensos Costa (Grupo Costa), was awarded the Porc d’Or Ibérico Sustainability Award presented by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA) for its 2025 edition. The recognition was delivered on Friday at a gala held in Guijuelo (Salamanca), attended by more than 400 professionals from the sector.
The MAPA Sustainability Award is part of the special recognitions of the Porc d’Or Ibérico, an initiative promoted by the Institute of Agro-food Research and Technology (IRTA) in collaboration with the MAPA and supported by the Interprofessional Association of Iberian Pork (ASICI). According to the jury, this award values continuous improvement in infrastructure and animal management, recognizing farms that implement policies in quality, biosecurity, animal health, reduction of environmental impact, and animal welfare.
State-of-the-art facilities and technology
The awarded farm is located in La Roca de la Sierra (Badajoz) and has a capacity for 2,400 Iberian sows and their piglets, employing 11 workers. The facility, inaugurated in 2020, features state-of-the-art facilities that include:
Digital control system: Ensures individual control of the feeding and health of each animal through automated feeding that adjusts the diet according to the animal’s life stage and constant real-time monitoring from any location.
Advanced ventilation and climate control: A sophisticated low-consumption system that combines environmental health and sustainability.
Free-range management: Implements the ‘inseminate and release’ technique, housing sows in free gestation parks immediately after insemination, allowing group rearing and the expression of natural behaviors.
Specialized areas of the farm
Lactation area: Sows have a wide space with a free farrowing system after giving birth and individual electronic feeding that automatically applies the ideal feeding curve.
Weaning area: Features the distribution of pens in large groups, climate control according to needs, and a multi-phase feeding system that provides individualized nutrition according to each growth phase.
Insemination center: Applies advanced techniques for the in-house production of semen, enhancing biosecurity and improving efficiency, control over genetic selection, and quality.
The Porc d’Or Ibérico Awards celebrate their ninth edition in 2025 and have established themselves as an essential event in the agri-food agenda of Spain, serving as a strategic meeting point where the sector shares technical advances and recognizes good production practices.
The Grupo Costa, founded in Fraga (Huesca) in 1966, operates through its meat holding Costa Food Group in over a hundred countries. The company generates 5,000 jobs and its combined revenue is around 2.3 billion euros annually, with a presence in meat, wine, hospitality, renewable energy, plant health, real estate, and automotive sectors.
