The technical homogenization intended by the modernization of agriculture, well represented by the Green Revolution guidelines, has been associated with negative socio-environmental consequences  at  rural  areas.  However,  recent  proposals  which  aim  to  set  new  dynamics  to rural  development  processes,  have  been  constructed  in  opposition  to  conventional diffusionists  ideas.  With  this,  proposals  and  projects  that  emphasize  the  local  knowledge relevance as part of strategies for rural development have advanced. Researches and actions from several organizations connected to the rural development have gradually emphasized the results from  the  interaction  between  local  knowledge  and  knowledge  derived  from technoscience; this fact allows a new perspective to the role of family farmers in rural areas, a look  that encompasses  the  rising  of  adaptations  and re-arrangements  in  social  and  work relationships, new configurations of meanings and reinventions of practices and techniques, especially agricultural ones. In this context, it is considered that changes and innovations are constantly occurring and they are potentially motivating to an active process of emergence of 'novelties', in which local features and the actionof multiple actors are essential. Focusing on these social processes and on the knowledge heterogeneity, it is possible to realize changes in farmers’ relationships  to  nature  and,  this  way,  rethinking  the  farmers’  role  and  local knowledge  as key  elements  to  achieve  sustainable  productive  alternatives.  Based  on  these ideas and under Actor Oriented Approach framework, the researchaimed to analyze emerging novelties,  focusing on  farming  practices,  production  systems  and  social  organization, specially considering them as results from interface situations, which put together knowledge and practices from social mediators and family farmers, during the implementation of projects for rural development at São Lourenço do Sul and Pelotas - Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The analysis  indicates  that  these  family farmers,  oriented  by  ecological  agriculture  ideals, supported  by  technical  assistance  projects and  by  public  policies,  are  performing  ‘deviant practices’, which represent innovative ways to agricultural processes, to interaction between actors, to relationship with the markets and even to creating new organizations. This way, it was  possible  to  identify  the  novelty  emergence,  which can  be  evidenced  through  the Cooperativa  Sul  Ecológica  foundation;  the  construction  of new markets,  the  institutional (school meals) and local(farmers fairs); and the establishment of the Agroindústria Figueira do Prado. The trajectory of emergence of these novelties is related to the discovery of new and relevant resources to overcome conventional production systems, proposing others, based on ecological principles. The development of a 'fine tuning' process is also relevant in using such  resources  as  well  as  a  re-patterning  of  them  by  establishing  connections between elements  before  ignored  or  spaced.  These  'novelties'  that  are  broadly  related  to knowledge sharing, local characteristics, heterogeneity and social action dynamism seem to be indicating changes to development paths at rural areas of southern Rio Grande do Sul.