In Brazil, recent improvements of the National School Feeding Programme (PNAE), which articulates support for the family farm and food security in vulnerable populations, indicate an evolution towards relocalized food systems. The objective of this work is to understand how the participation of a collective of family farmers in different forms of short food supply chains, including public programmes of institutional catering, helped consolidate an innovative agricultural system, in terms of production, as well as in terms of peri-urban land occupation, work organization and social recognition of agriculture’s role. The concept of Multifunctional agriculture was used as powerful analytical tool to reveal the various dimensions of this issue.