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Honourable Officers and Management of the Barcelos Cooperative Society
Honourable Mayor
Honourable Civil Governor,

It is with great pleasure that I have come to Barcelos, today, to testify, with my presence, the deserved public merit of the Barcelos Agricultural Cooperative Society due to its initiatives and achievements, and to the celebration, in the current year, of its 75th anniversary.

Initiative, because this cooperative society was, within the agricultural domain, one of the first to be set up in our country – the second, I believe, in Continental Portugal – and to take such important decisions as the creation, with other cooperative societies in the region, of the Union of Milk Cooperative Societies of the Northern Coastal Area, which eventually gave rise to the enterprise now known as AGROS.

The achievements of the Barcelos Agricultural Cooperative Society are on view and are certainly a matter of pride for the farmers who are its members.

In its sphere of activity, corresponding to the county of Barcelos, which is the largest in the country as to number of parishes (89), the cooperative society has currently 4,800 members, the large majority of whom are smallholders: this immediately highlights its enormous social relevance, apart from the size of its economic structure.

Although milk production is not the sole agricultural activity of the Cooperative Society, this is the sector which has provided the greater contribution for the economic development of the county of Barcelos.

Barcelos is, in fact, the largest milk producing county in Continental Portugal, and this product, apart from being the main item of the Cooperative Society’s turnover, is also the main source of its profits, a fact that I register with appreciation and applause.

The Barcelos Agricultural Cooperative Society, its management and its members are good examples of hard work, persistence and good practices, whilst at the same time providing us with two very significant lessons.

Firstly, that cooperation is the only way which permits smallholders to ensure their future and maintain alive their activity. Secondly, they show us that, in agriculture, cooperative societies, if well managed, can become viable structures and lead the development of our rural areas.

We are all aware that the sustainability of the milk sector has demanded much work, much determination and a dynamic and knowledgeable guidance. This enabled us to greatly increase productivity and to maintain the country supplied with milk and milk products with excellent quality.

Without cooperative societies such as that of Barcelos, without the organization of producers in their diverse guises, it would have been impossible to achieve the genetic improvement of the existing cattle, the rationalization of management and the technological modernization of operations and of the processing sector.

Large investments were made in the modernization of the milk production line, which suffered radical alterations in the last decades.

Although there was a decrease in the number of producers, the average size of the operators and the production per animal were greatly increased, with the consequent increase in production which ensured our self-sufficiency.

With much merit, the milk sector learnt how to modernize and restructure, and is today a very significant part of the value generated by our agriculture.

I know that, at this moment, many farmers are uncertain and apprehensive about their future. They are concerned because they are facing new environmental demands, because the factors influencing the costs of production have greatly increased, and also because they fear that milk quotas will be scrapped, which could increase competition from Northern Europe and thus create pressure on milk prices.

I do not ignore that such concerns and these new challenges exist, but I am convinced that the sector will know, as before, how to face these difficulties and how to find the most adequate solutions to conquer them.

It is important that a consensus be found between production and processing, on the need to innovate and diversify the production, and to invest in products with greater added value.

From 2015 onwards, with or without quotas, I am certain that we will be able to continue producing high quality milk, supplying the country and competing with success in an increasingly enlarged market.

For this we count on the will, the determination, the organization and the support of solid, experienced and technically capable structures, such as the Barcelos Agricultural Cooperative Society, with seventy five years of service rendered to the farmers of the county of Barcelos and for the benefit of the Country.

Please allow me to congratulate you, dear friends, on this so very significant anniversary. I wish that the health of your organization continues for many, many more years.