As políticas de desenvolvimento entre a sedução e a sedação

The paper analyzes the relationship between organic farmers from western of Santa Catarina state (Brazil) and the State through the action of mediators. Two aspects of this connection are examined. Firstly, the performance space and the power of brokers for establishing links between different levels of government action and the society organizations. Secondly, development processes and the role of the State towards policies and intervention programs. Results of ethnographic fieldwork research – between 2008 and 2009 – show that mediators occupy a relevant role to fulfill potentially dynamic spaces, making connections and building ways to support agriculture. On the other hand, the research also demonstrates that, from this peculiar sort of relationships, the State is interpreted ambivalently between desire and repulsion by farmers; therefore, the State is charged for actions and simultaneously criticized for problematic interventions.