This year, Agropur will celebrate its 85th birthday, and we can all be proud of how far it has come. The fact that Agropur plays such an important role today in the lives of so many families in Canada and the United States is due in large part to its members. They are the people who believed in the project in its early days and have supported the Cooperative throughout the first 85 years of its existence.

This very special year is the perfect time to remind ourselves of the truly outstanding journey of a Cooperative that began life on August 24, 1938, as the Société cooperative agricole du canton de Granby.

Originally, a group of several dozen farmers (87 in all) came together to form an association that would address their common needs. Behind this initiative were some important values, such as mutual help, solidarity, equity, and democracy. Although all this happened 85 years ago, those same values are still the cornerstones of the Cooperative. Agropur’s success today is the result of our joint efforts, inspired by the values on which cooperation is built. 

By joining forces as they did, the founding members became partners in a venture with the hope of creating something more than a simple accumulation of investments. Let us thank them for being resolute and tenacious enough to pursue the vision of what the Cooperative would go on to become. Let us also be grateful for the efforts of all the people – leaders and employees alike – who have worked over the years to advance that original vision. It is thanks to them that Agropur has become one of the 20 largest milk processors in the world.