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eram migrantes gaúchos que haviam colonizado a região Centro-Oeste a partir de 197025, promovendo a expansão da fronteira agrícola brasi- leira26.
De certa forma, a motivação para o cooperativismo de crédito nas novas fronteiras agrícolas mantinha uma semelhança com o pas- sado. Os desafios dos produtores do Mato Grosso e do Mato Grosso do Sul eram parecidos com aqueles superados pelos pioneiros do coopera- tivismo, no início do século, quando fundaram as Caixas Rurais. Assim como os imigrantes alemães que desembarcaram no Brasil no século 19, os produtores que chegaram ao Centro-Oeste do século 20 enfrentavam problemas relacionados à falta de estradas, escolas, armazéns e crédito. O vazio demográfico representava, na prática, a inexistência da infraes- trutura básica. O atendimento dessas carências levou a maciços gastos, que são consequência do “custo do pioneirismo”27. Além dos custos contá- veis, existiam os de caráter emocional, em função do elevado “sacrifício pessoal (...), traduzido pelo sentimento de isolamento, saudade da terra natal, dos parentes e dos amigos”28.
Memória
Looking back
In the Central-West, credit unions arose from the need to make financing more available for agricultural production. The earlier experiences in the states
of Rio Grande do Sul and Paraná influenced the growers since many of them were originally from southern Brazil and had settled in the Central- West beginning in 1970,25 expanding Brazil’s agricultural frontiers.26
To a certain extent, the credit unions in the new agricultural frontiers were driven by the same factors as in the past. The challenges faced by the farmers in Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul were similar to those tackled by cooperativism’s early pioneers at the turn of the century
when the Rural Banks were formed.
As with the German immigrants who arrived in Brazil in the 19th century, the growers who arrived in the Central- West in the 20th century confronted problems arising from a lack of roads, schools, grocery stores and credit. The reality of the small population was the non-existence of basic infrastructure. Attending to these needs brought massive costs, a consequence of the “cost of pioneerism.”27 Aside from
the actual dollar costs, there are the emotional costs in terms of the high “personal sacrifice (...), brought on by feelings of isolation and homesickness for one’s native land, family and friends.”28