Associativism is a driver of agrarian modernization, crucial in the analysis of social change processes in rural communities. This article provides ethnographic evidence about types and practices of associativism in communities dedicated to coffee cultivation, in the Colombian Andes. It seeks contribute to academic discussions regarding the reformulation of development in Latin America. The field work considered the daily life of an agricultural association in the municipality of La Celia (Risaralda, Colombia), with the objective of analyzing the supposed associative weakness in Andean communities. The results show how situations of coffee economic crisis tend to motivate the sudden updating of local associative forms, under the protection of transnational organizations, who end up installing new productive dilemmas within communities. This phenomenon affects domestic sociabilities, which support local associativism. It also influences social trust and future associative aptitude.