The Brazilian Ministry of Agrarian Development (distinct from the Ministry of Agriculture), in cooperation with farmer associations, NGOs and others, developed Seed Law #10711 of 2003, recognizing farmer varieties/landraces and offering opportunities for voluntary registration. The objectives are to recognize smallholder family farmers’ varieties/landraces and to facilitate public support to their conservation, maintenance, enhancement, production, use and dissemination through government programmes. Article 48 of the Law forbids restrictions on the inclusion of local, traditional and Creole varieties in publicly funded programmes for family farmers. Ministerial Directive 51/2007 provides criteria for the voluntary registration of these varieties. Legal recognition has made possible government (financial) support for various projects and initiatives undertaken by NGOs and farmers and contributed to integrating farmer varieties/ landraces into national food and nutrition security programmes. Key conditions for success are farmers’ and civil society organizations’ engagement, mobilization and practical work on farmer varieties and seed and exemptions for farmers’ seed from laws and regulations addressing commercial varieties; furthermore, linking conservation and use of farmer varieties to public procurement programmes can provide incentives to sustain such initiatives.