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Landraces have been used by family farmers as a way to expand their productive autonomy and food security, in addition to contributing to the strengthening of resistance and permanence on land. Research and rural extension entities can be great allies in this matter. The present work sought to identify how these landraces are obtained and exchanged among guardians in the rural settlements of Território Prof. Cory/Andradina (SP); and the role that public institutions have been playing in this matter. To obtain this information, a semi-open questionnaire was applied in the form of an interview, together with 55 guardians, and three professionals from public research and extension institutions working in the Territory were interviewed. It was found that the guardians acquire the landraces through donations, exchange, inheritance and purchase. However, most of them find it difficult to acquire, especially due to the lack of interaction between them. Landraces conservation projects in the Territory are recent and, although they depend on public policy support, they are promising, in the sense of articulating the guardians and reinforcing this important family farmer strategy to face adverse contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]