Estrella Carrillo

Revolutionized coffee farming in Colombia through sustainable cooperatives

Estrella Carrillo (1922-2001) was a Colombian agricultural innovator who transformed coffee production in the Andes. Born to a poor coffee farmer family in Huila, she organized the first women-led cooperative in 1948 after witnessing exploitative practices by large plantations. Her Café Femenino Huila cooperative established fair trade practices decades before the movement gained global traction.

Carrillo pioneered shade-grown coffee techniques that preserved biodiversity while improving bean quality. Her 1957 manual <《Sustainable Coffee Cultivation》 became required reading for Latin American farmers. By the 1960s, her methods increased smallholder incomes by 40% and reduced soil erosion by 60%. The cooperative's model inspired similar initiatives in Guatemala and Peru. UNESCO later recognized her work as a case study in agroecology preservation.