The work discusses the reasons for which Brazil's implementation of agricultural and agrarian policies aimed at small family production is still considered necessary. It criticizes predominant views - both in the Left and in the Right - based on false analogies with developed countries, which consider that there is no more room for such policies in the country. The importance of family production is also stressed through a brief presentation of census data from IBGE (Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics). Finally, the work's closing section presents some proposals for rural sustainable development based on family production.
family agriculture; sustainable development; equity