Avo’ Go Hero

Founded in 2000, Ricardo Uribe Lalinde’s Cartama Group was ahead of the pack in this “green gold” rush and well placed to sustainably expand its avocado farms to meet demand.

When Ricardo founded Cartama, Hass avocados were not as popular as they are now, but he was sure of Colombia’s potential as an exporter of the superfruit. Starting with 14 hectares, Ricardo and his team took the time to develop their own technical approach to planting, harvesting, and packaging high quality avocados.

Today, Cartama has expanded to over 6,500 hectares and exports 14% of all Colombia’s avocados with 1,600 Hass experts cultivating avocados in the Andes of Antioquia, Caldas and Risaralda. Their passion and discipline is matched by Cartama’s commitment to bringing progress and equal opportunities to its employees and the regions in which it farms.

Cartama is ensuring its growth isn’t at the cost of the environment. They promote natural bee pollination that supports local biodiversity and the company’s packing plant uses solar panels so effectively it has 60% energy autonomy. Ricardo also ensures that employees and local communities are empowered with studies and training on agricultural techniques and interaction with natural flora and fauna to support conservation. As a result of all these efforts, last year Cartama was the only avocado producer in the market to obtain B Corp certification, achieving the best score in governance, workers and customers in Latin America.

At UPL, we have developed shared networks and workspaces with Cartama through which we can provide technical assistance and services including pruning management, plant and soil health. This service has been further extended and expanded with training modules through our Aplique Bien program and wider stewardship topics. We are also part of the “Cartama Educa” initiative that promotes children’s education in rural areas.

Ricardo and Cartama have blazed a trail for Colombian avocados, but they’re not resting on their laurels (or their avocados). As Ricardo says, “We waited about 12 years to be able to export. We must be calm to do things well, the most important is to do things with heart and love for agriculture.” That’s a sentiment we share.