Marked by the creative and endogenous value that is placed on local resources, the development trajectory in the state of Santa Catarina has combined the wealth that is part of the cultural heritage of European development, the advantages of small-scale agricultural property and the search for flexibility in the face of the pressures and the opportunities exercised by the dynamics of the Brazilian economy as a whole. A number of elements - small-scale production in all its forms, the low intensity of government intervention, collective entrepreneurship and the value that is placed on labor productivity - have all had an important role relative to other Brazilian states, with collective action aimed at local development. Nonetheless, as early as the 1980s this trajectory began to show signs of exhaustion, thus necessitating careful current analysis of i) the limits of the model which has come to be known as the Santa Catarina state model of development and ii) the terrain for maneuvering that has been created, within the current scenario of economic and cultural globalization, for the definition of alternative public policies inspired in principals of sustainable rural development. This article is an attempt to meet this demand, presenting a synthesis of the partial results reached through a joint French-Brazilian research project financed by the CAPES-CONFECUB Agreement. The text provides an exploratory contribution for our understanding of the challenges that surround the definition of a new style of development for the state. Furthermore, it identifies a range of emerging initiatives that can serve as a point of reference for plans for rural sustainable development for the next few years.