In this paper, the authors analyze the Condominios as economic associations adapted to the characteristics of family agriculture in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. Firstly, they analyze the process of modernization of Brazilian agriculture that took place in the 1960s and 1970s under the military governments, giving special attention to the selective and exclusive effects this process had on small farmers. Within the framework of this process, they then go on to study the development of cooperativism and demonstrate how the consolidation of macro-cooperative models reflected the interests and characteristics of modernized, export-oriented agriculture. Thirdly, they analyze the origins and development of Condominios as an alternative to the large agricultural cooperatives in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. Finally, the authors discuss these models of association, which are adapted to the characteristics of small farms and place them in the context of the old Chayanov's views on the family agriculture and the peasantry.