This work presents the public policies that focus on family agriculture, particularly on that undertaken in the semiarid region. The objective of the article is to analyze the public policy ideologies undergirding the ‘battle against the drought’ of the early XX century and compare them to the coexistence policies of the semiarid climate that represent a new strategy for local sustainable development. Therefore, the importance of the public policies during the drought cycle between 1900 to 1970 for small-scale agriculture and the promotion of sustainable development are presented. Also discussed are the paradigm changes that occurred in the models of family agriculture production, considering both conventional models and those adopted throughout the period of the so-called green revolution and agroecology