From the idea of sustainability, agriculture has acquired new connotations beyond the productive aspect, and associated with conservation of natural resources and rural territories, in recognition of their multiple functions. Based on this concept, which values the socioenvironmental functions performed by rural families, the present paper made an analysis on a rural settlement in the São Paulo state, aiming to identify functions beyond the production and their expression in this particular territory. With a methodology based on qualitative and quantitative information, it was observed that, in the settlement in focus, agriculture carries with it questions of territorial cohesion, maintenance of food security, agrobiodiversity conservation and the encouragement of other producing activities, being the central element of the rebuild of a rural way of life in this environment.
multiple functions of agriculture; rural settlement; rural development