Our Farms: Lago Agrio and Borja

Agroindustrias González produces on two farms in the Ecuadorian Amazon: Lago Agrio and the Borja nucleus farm, in Baeza canton, Napo province. Fish and pig farming coexist there across more than 30 years of the company’s history, from the tilapia farming started in 1995 to the Topigs Norsvin pig genetics, a brand for which the company has been the exclusive representative in Ecuador since 2005.

What Does Each of the Group’s Farms Produce, Lago Agrio and Borja?

In Lago Agrio the company farms tilapia, paiche and fattening pigs. At Borja it specialises in pig breeding. In 2015 the company rebuilt and expanded its pig infrastructure, adopting European animal welfare standards. The group was born in Lago Agrio: there, in 1995, a young engineer from Zamora began industrialising his farm with tilapia farming, and in 2000 the company imported high genetic quality tilapia from the United States; Borja followed in 2010, with the expansion of the pig genetics unit, a history detailed on the about us page.

How Much of Each Farm’s Land Is in Production?

Lago Agrio covers 110 hectares in total, 15 of them in production: pigs, fish, sugarcane and pasture. Borja covers 172 hectares, 40 of them in production. Across the two farms that comes to 282 hectares, of which 55 are in production and 227 are not. The company states that the areas it conserves are not intervened: they are protected from logging and left to regenerate naturally, acting as a natural barrier around the pig farms and fish ponds since the company’s beginnings in the Amazon.

What Wildlife Is Seen in the Farms’ Conserved Forests?

In the forests surrounding Lago Agrio and Borja, spectacled bears, capybaras, pacas and several species of monkeys are observed. The company explains this presence by the fact that in the areas it keeps outside production, no trees are felled and no paths are opened to expand crops. The company states that it believes in a healthy coexistence in which cedars, guayacans, balsas, guarumos and chilcas may go on growing, and in which wild animals may find shelter in those forests. The detail of this coexistence between production and Amazon rainforest is related on the company’s blog.

Why Does Fish Farming Replace Fishing with Barbasco or Dynamite?

Tilapia and paiche farming in Lago Agrio is presented as a historical alternative to aggressive practices such as fishing with barbasco or dynamite. By raising the fish in ponds within the farm, the company avoids contaminating rivers with chemicals or explosives. The company also preserves the Amazon forests surrounding those fish ponds and its pig farms, as a natural barrier since its beginnings. This activity is part of the same history that, in 2000, led the company to train more than 2,000 people in tilapia handling, in partnership with the Nueva Loja prefecture.

Why Do the Pig Farms Use Fewer Antibiotics?

Agroindustrias González states that it has significantly reduced antibiotic use on its pig farms thanks to the Amazon environment surrounding Lago Agrio and Borja. The company attributes that result to the clean air and calm environment offered by the rainforest, a natural regulator that, according to its account, produces healthier animals without the need to over-medicate them. In 2010 the company expanded its pig genetics unit in Borja, Baeza canton, taking advantage of that area’s sanitary and isolation conditions: the country’s first great-grandparent pig nucleus was established there, the base of the Topigs Norsvin genetics, a brand for which the company has been the exclusive representative in Ecuador since 2005.

How Does the Multi-Stage Biodigester Work on the Farms?

The manure generated by Agroindustrias González’s pigs is treated in a multi-stage anaerobic biodigester: a closed pool where bacteria break down waste without contact with air for 15 days. The process releases methane, which the company uses to heat farrowing units and piglets, and produces biol, a liquid organic fertiliser. Daily biol production ranges between 5 and 10 cubic metres, and each kilo of pork produced generates between 3 and 4 kilos of manure that enters this system.

What Is Done with the Biol and How Is River Pollution Avoided?

The biol produced by the biodigester is donated to neighbouring farmers, who use it on their paddocks and gardens. By keeping the manure within this closed treatment circuit, the company avoids pig waste seeping into the Amazon rivers, according to the company itself. The first biodigester began as a school project by Jorge González, general manager and creator of the system, and was refined over the years into the multi-stage biodigester operating today. Pork cuts raised in Borja under the Welfair Certification also supply Market d’Lago shops.

What Certification Distinguishes the Borja Pig Breeding Farm?

The Borja pig farm, in Napo province, was the first in Latin America and in Ecuador to obtain the Welfair Certification, which audits four principles and twelve specific criteria: good feeding, good housing, good health and appropriate behaviour. The first certification process took place on 5 May 2023, and that certification was renewed on 1 August 2025. The company presents the Welfair Certification as a guarantee of compliance with European animal welfare standards. The Borja farm covers 172 hectares in total, 40 of them in production.

How Do These Farms Fit into the Group’s Family of Companies?

Lago Agrio is the farm where the company was born in 1995, and together with the Borja nucleus farm, added in 2010, it now sustains the production of tilapia, paiche and fattening pigs, as well as the nucleus farm’s pig breeding. Agroindustrias González presents itself as the origin of a family of companies that grow with a single purpose: to produce with responsibility, quality and commitment to the territory. In Lago Agrio, 15 of the farm’s 110 hectares are in production; in Borja, 40 of its 172. Together the two farms cover 282 hectares, 55 of them in production. Much of the company’s more than 30 years of history in the Ecuadorian Amazon rests on those two farms.