Santa Catarina family farming have been reacting and adapting themselves to two relevant processes  that  have  been  transforming  production  and  working  condition  along  the  last years.   The  first  one  regards  the  economic  pressure  which  several  activities  developed  in different territories in Santa Catarina face. The second one regards the moving back of the demand for differentiated quality food products that one verifies in the context of developed countries and also in Brazil. Family farming historically present close relation with big agriindustrial complexes, in a process that they become suppliers of  raw materials to transform into standardize products  under  the  rule  of  industrial  production.   The  reaction  to  these processes are happening through several initiatives and practices that aim at a repositioning in the agri-food food markets, inserting themselves in an autonomous way and building new markets  through  the production  and  processing  of  differentiated  quality  food,  whether artisanal, organic, or in the identification with the localculture and values. The strategies of integration  to  several  new markets  through  the  construction  of  new  agri-food  chains  has becoming  familiar  practice  in several  places  and  present  close  relation  with  the  family farmers  constant  struggle  for autonomy  and  progress,  with  the  processes of  rural development and with the rural changes in progress. The emergence of these new agri-food markets  (of  quality)  can  be  identified  in  Santa Catarina  through  the reconnection  of  the relations between producer and consumer that emerges from the construction of short agrifood  chains  These  chains  characterize  themselves by  rooting  food  practices  in  local  eco- social relations, creating new economic spaces. A key characteristic would be its capability to re-socialize or re-spacialize food, allowing consumer to makevalue judgment. It would mean  redefine  the  relation  producer-consumer  by  giving  clear signals  about  the  product origin  and  the  role  of  this  relation  in the  construction  of  values and  meanings.  Thus,  this thesis  discusses  fundamentally  the  construction  by  Santa  Catarina family  farmers  of  short agri-food  chains  as  an  ad  value  strategy  through  insertion  in markets of  products  with specific qualities  conforming  through  food production  and  trade  a  relation of  trust  among producers and consumers. To such three short chains in different contexts in Santa Catarina were analysed: the chains face to face, the ones with spatial proximity and the ones spatially extended.  From  three  case  studies  we  aim  at  understanding  the  processes  that have  been provoking rural changes and dynamicly altering the ways of production, organization, and integration  of  family  farmers  in  new  market  circuits  and  stimulating  the  dispute  among several agents that conform distinct food worlds in Santa Catarina. These short chains arise from proximity relations and are both cause and result of the active construction of nets by several actors  in  agri-food  chain  acting  in  the  re-socialization  and  re-location  of  food  in situations of emergent  rural  development.  We  made  evident  that  insert  family  farmers  in market  circuits through  food  production  with  differentiated  quality starting  from  the construction  of  short chains  is  a  strategy  that  aims  at  amplifying  autonomy  and  more appropriation of the added value to products with differentiated quality.