{"id":689,"date":"2025-08-27T11:12:46","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T14:12:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.finisterratopo.com\/?page_id=689"},"modified":"2025-08-27T12:55:31","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T15:55:31","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.finisterratopo.com\/?page_id=689&lang=en","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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History<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t
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THE ORIGINS<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t

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Finisterra \u2013 Cooperativa de Lactic\u00ednios do Topo, CRL<\/strong>\u00a0was founded on May 22, 1944, becoming since then a local front line institution in economic, social and cultural terms, taking on the promotion of the cooperative culture within our community.<\/p>

The founders of this institution were: Germano Jos\u00e9 Gomes, Jos\u00e9 Tomas Nunes, Manuel Silveira Gon\u00e7alves, Ant\u00f3nio Joaquim dos Reis, Manuel Mendon\u00e7a e \u00c1vila, Jo\u00e3o Alves dos Ramos, Guilherme Lu\u00eds de Oliveira, Jo\u00e3o Silveira de Azevedo, Jos\u00e9 Nunes Belo, Manuel C\u00e2ndido de Matos, Victor Bettencourt Brasil, Ant\u00f3nio Joaquim Francisco, Jos\u00e9 Brasil Aguiar and Ant\u00f3nio Silveira Leonardo.<\/p>

From this group of founding associates was formed the first Board of Directors, which has brought up a generous idea of sharing in a community distant from the main centers, even in S\u00e3o Jorge Island \u2013 especially at the time \u2013 and thus in need of stimulating self-improvement even as an essential way of survival. The chairmen of this house since its foundation were: Germano Jos\u00e9 Gomes, Manuel Mendon\u00e7a e \u00c1vila, Jos\u00e9 Joaquim Borges Jr., Jos\u00e9 Tom\u00e1s Ramos, Jos\u00e9 Tom\u00e1s Nunes, Jos\u00e9 Lu\u00eds Coelho, Manuel dos Santos Silveira, Louren\u00e7o Ventura da Silveira and Jos\u00e9 Leovegildo Sousa Azevedo.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t

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BACKGROUND<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t

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Finisterra \u2013 Cooperativa de Lactic\u00ednios do Topo, CRL<\/strong>\u00a0has inherited a tradition of associativism in which it stands out, as far as it is possible to go back in memory, a small private factory located in Lameiro, leased by Manuel Constantino Borba, and that worked without any by-laws and was not legalized.<\/p>

Meanwhile, our cooperative was constituted in 1944 on the initiative of a group of farmers who hastened to elaborate and approve the by-laws, thus legalizing the entity. At the same time, a private corporation called Nova Alian\u00e7a was operating in Santo Ant\u00e3o, whose owners were: Jos\u00e9 Borges, Amaro Coelho, Manuel Oliveira, Jo\u00e3o Ant\u00f3nio, Manuel Teixeira (from Santa Rosa), Jo\u00e3o da Ponta, Manuel Teixeira, father (from Ribeirinha), Jaime Teixeira and Jaiminho (da Urzelina).<\/p>

The two entities were merged in 1947 and were joined in the first building of Finisterra \u2013 Cooperativa de Lactic\u00ednios do Topo, CRL, where the Nova Alian\u00e7a operated until then. At the location stands today the Church of Santo Ant\u00e3o.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t

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SIGNIFICANT MOMENTS<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t

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Another significant moment in the life of the cooperative is the decision of the General Meeting, in 1984, of building a new factory in Ribeira das Lix\u00edvias, which was inaugurated on August 15, 1986. As it became outdated in terms of quality and quantity considering the associates dynamics in milk production and bearing in mind the evolution of knowledge, technology and the market demands, the factory had to be replaced, which came to happen after a new resolution of the General Meeting, in 2005, and the new industrial facility was inaugurated on August 5, 2009.<\/p>

The year of 2003 is very significant in the life of\u00a0Finisterra \u2013 Cooperativa de Lactic\u00ednios do Topo, CRL<\/strong>, as it was extinct the archaic system of milk collection based on posts scattered throughout the Topo area, all built before 1958, except the one in Cruzal built that year. The direct milk delivery at the factory, replacing the post collection system, introduces potential gains in quality, which was impossible with the old outdated system.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t

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HEADING TOWARDS THE FUTURE<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t

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With its new industrial unit,\u00a0Finisterra \u2013 Cooperativa de Lactic\u00ednios do Topo, CRL<\/strong>, is now equipped with a factory built from scratch, designed with forward-looking spirit and equipped with cutting-edge material specific for the production of raw milk and its transformation into cheese with maximum quality assurance.<\/p>

The new factory was designed to guarantee the generalized production of high quality cheese, capable of not only competing with the Portuguese and European markets, but also with the most demanding and interesting North American market \u2013 not only in the so called \u201cmercado da saudade\u201d (the market of the Azorean emigrants).<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t

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THE FOUNDERS OF FINISTERRA<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t

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