A well-structured sector

The Consortium du Noir de Bigorre is an association which unites all partners, farmers, artisans, pork butchers and meat curers and the representatives of the Brotherhood. They implement actions defined collectively, carry out communication and promotional campaigns and set up research and development activities. The Consortium du Noir de Bigorre will be the ODG1 for the future AOPs2 "Noir de Bigorre Ham" and "Noir de Bigorre Pork”.
L’Association des éleveurs de Porcs Noirs de Bigorre (1901 law), created in 1994, has helped to save the Gascon pig breed and to obtain official recognition for it. It perpetuates one of the fundamental principles: the continuity of rearing methods, without altering the animal, while preserving and enriching its ecosystem and includes in its activities genetic monitoring, the organisation of farmers and the application of the decisions of the sector which concern livestock farming.
The Société du Porc Noir de Bigorre (SICA) created in 2001
The synergy created by this partnership, where the skills and energies of the farmers and the artisan pork butchers and meat curers are combined, has enabled the production and processing of products and their marketing to be organised. The society “Le Porc Noir”, organises, along with other members of the sector, the processing of carcasses and the manufacture of different products: the curing and maturing of Noir de Bigorre Ham, and cured and charcuterie products.

It is a collective organisation which offers perfect traceability from farming to marketing, and therefore the possibility of monitoring the route of an animal intended for consumption.
The Noir de Bigorre Brotherhood (1901 Law) created in 2000
The Brotherhood, whose headquarters, the Cistercian Abbey of Escaladieu, is a distinctive symbol of the history of the Bigorre region, helps to promote Noir de Bigorre Ham and organises media “ceremonies” to honour people who have worked for the recognition of the Noir de Bigorre pig; once enthroned, they become “Chevaliers” and official spokesmen for the appellation.
The FESERPAE/European Federation of Indigenous Extensively Farmed Indigenous Pig Breeds (Association under Spanish law) created in 2004.
The aim of this Federation is to achieve recognition at European level for indigenous, extensively reared pig breeds, and enables the Noir de Bigorre pig to access the highest skills in the field of research and development along with the greatest hams of Europe.