Agriculture and the rural world meet at the epicenter of a myriad of transformations that society is experiencing at the beginning of this millennium. These changes result from the force-idea impact or vectors of distinct orders or natures, which reveal the great distance in relation to the demands of contemporary society that characterizes graduate courses in agrarian sciences offered in Brazil. The authors understand that there is a current process, although incipient, of paradigmatic change, which is translated not only into the introduction of new research lines in the courses already existing, but also into the opening of new programs identified with these very demands.