The aim of this study is to observe the adoption of the organizational practice of direct planting and the simultaneous discontinuity of conventional planting technology in the region of Campos Gerais in Paraná State, Brazil from 1970 to 2005. Our research was guided by the institutional analysis perspective, with emphasis placed on the notion of recurrence between structure and action in the social construction process of reality. The research method was mixed, with sectional cuts and longitudinal evaluation. There were three stages of data collection and analysis: the first two were qualitative and the third was quantitative. In terms of results we found conformity on the part of rural organizations to the environmental pressures that were identified, which supported the process of replacing conventional planting with direct planting technology. The conclusion of the study points out the relationships of recurrence and simultaneousness between environmental pressures and strategic responses. As a result, environmental pressures cease to be visualized, linear and sequential, such as events or variables that lead to changes. Instead, they are fundamentally understood as a combination of variables or events that may lead to change as long as they are interpreted by social actors as relevant to this end. In short, what we found, effectively, was the occurrence of a recursive, circular cause-action process in which the duality between persistence and change constituted a central component of the social dynamic.