The National Agency for Technical Assistance and Rural Extension (ANATER) was created in 2013 by the Federal government to expand the resources and scope of public extension services to poorer farmers and to address sustainability issues. While ANATER is being structured, the Brazilian Government is supporting family farming with the National Program for the Strengthening of Family Farming (PRONAF), the Plano Safra 2014-15 and the National Policy for Organic Farming and Agroecology launched in 2013 with the support of the MDA. Agricultural zoning represents an important instrument linking agricultural support to environmental sustainability of farming activity. Respect of zoning rules is used as a condition of producers’ eligibility for concessional credit and subsidised insurance programmes. Brazil has voluntarily committed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by between 36.1% and 38.9% in the period to 2020. To this end, the government launched in 2010 a key credit programme named Plano ABC, Low Carbon Agriculture, which promotes the recovery of pasture areas that have suffered soil degradation and puts into place a system of integrated production of crop, livestock and forestry.