Frísia e Ponta Grossa: success secular by Geraldo Slob

101 years ago, in 1925, one of the first initiatives to create a production cooperative in Brazil was born in Carambeí, neighbor of the birthday girl Ponta Grossa. The history of Agro-industrial Cooperative Friesland began with seven partners and a dairy production of 700 litres per day – currently, that is the amount of milk recorded per minute by the cooperative – who united four small factories to give rise to the Dutch Dairy Cooperative Society. Three years later, the Batavo brand was born. More than the beginning of a cooperative, that movement showed, already at that time, the ability of the union between producers to transform individual challenges into collective opportunities.

From the beginning, the production of Frisian cooperatives, initially of butter and cheese, was very well accepted by the Ponta Grossas. And that has a strong symbolism. Friesland has always valued quality, for producing in the best way, and knowing that the local population values these products gives pride and encouragement to continue producing and expanding capacity.

This relationship built over decades helps explain the very strength of cooperativeism in the Campos Gerais. Cooperating means adding production, knowledge, technology and investment capacity so that the producer has better conditions to develop his activity. More than a form of organization, cooperativism has consolidated itself as an economic model capable of reconciling competitiveness with collective development, keeping cooperatives at the center of decisions and results.

As a result, the “Princess of Campos Gerais” is one of the cooperative’s main investment focus. Currently, Friesland has almost 140 cooperators in the agricultural, pig and dairy cattle sectors. In agriculture, there are four crops in more than 45,000 hectares, with a total production capacity of more than 200,000 tons. In milk, 40,000 liters are produced per day, with a staff of 1,370 animals. In pig farming, it exceeds 1,300 animals.

Frisia has several units in the municipality: warehouses and dryers, agricultural shops, Seed Benefit Unit (UBS) and Seed Analysis Laboratory. They are structures that bring services, assistance, technology and market opportunities closer to the producer and, at the same time, move a chain that generates work, income and development for the region.

Throughout our history, we have also learned that cooperation can move beyond the union of producers. 101 years ago, pioneers realized that together they could achieve what individually would be much more difficult. Decades later, this same logic gained a new dimension in the Campos Gerais, with cooperatives joining forces through intercooperation.

By the inter-cooperation system, Ponta Grossa is home to the Dutch Heritage Wheat Mill, the Milk Benefit Unit (UBL) and the Cheese Factory, by Unium, and also to Maltaria Campos Gerais. The municipality has thus become an important hub for inter-cooperation projects, practical application of the union of forces, production, knowledge and investment capacity of different cooperatives to expand the scope of what is produced by cooperatives.

Looking at the trajectory, it becomes apparent that Ponta Grossa has become an important part of the history and development of Friesland. The profile of the municipality, its vocation for agribusiness and its ability to connect production, industry and market continue to create a fertile environment for growth and appreciation of the community. And it is with this vision of the future, maintaining the same principles that guided the pioneers for more than a century, that Friesland intends to continue contributing to the strengthening of Ponta Grossa and Campos Gerais. If history has taught us anything, it is that cooperation remains one of the most powerful tools to transform challenges into development. This has been the case for more than a century and it is with this same conviction that we continue to build the future.

Article by Geraldo Slob for the book: "PONTA GROSSA: From the Route of the Tropeiros to the Trails of Innovation"