This present article aims to analyze the family farming as a development mechanism to promoting public policies for the rural sector. Thus, also aims to equally demonstrate that the development of such policies took place mostly from the actions and programs for family farming, and from the rise of this agricultural activity as a professional category that the State, united with the civil society organizations, they began to worry and develop public policies in order to boost the rural sector as a whole, which received attention and incentives from the 1990's, along with the consolidation of managerial reform of the State, ceasing to be theoretical and becoming part of the political agenda of the country. Still, those public policies aimed at family farming are designed to tackle the main ills in rural areas, which are, rural poverty, lack of sustainability and the food insecurity, in order to help to achieve the development of this area. In this context, we emphasize it would not be possible to develop public policies for the rural sector without counting with the participation of State and the actors social involved - farmers, associations and trade unions, for example. Therefore it's necessary to make the union between State, democracy and family agriculture for the development of such policies, since this tripod is the basis for the development of programs aimed to foment rural areas. Finally, it is important to note that this study was drawn from the most diverse literature sources, from analyzes carried out in books and scientific articles on the subject.