Northern Costa Rica was settled in the course of the last century, giving rise to many extensive livestock-raising farms and also to settlement by small-scale farmers. During the 1960s and 1970s, national policies fostered family farming. However, since the 1980s the gradual withdrawal of the State and freer trade deeply modified conditions for agricultural production. In this new context, family farms adopt diversified strategies for risk prevention or to take advantage of new opportunities. Nevertheless, room to maneuver is diminishing, and this raises major questions on the future of family farming.