The debate about economic stability of rural settlements gained momentum in the 1990s and remains on today's agenda. This discussion persists because of the difficulties faced by settled families in surpassing the barrier of self-consumption and increase their production and income levels. The transformations underway in rural productive structures became key to understanding economic issues in the settlements, since producer associations in the settlements perceived that their engagement in agroindustrial production had become the main solution for successful settlement. Based on the history of the settlements, the evolution of production structures in the countryside and using quantitative study of the subject, this paper aims to outline the context of the national agrarian reform and discuss the economic dynamics of the settlements. In general, the study indicated that the productive barriers faced by settlements are strongly associated with the economic growth model based on agribusiness and land concentration. It was found that the production of the settlements and the technological level of its productive structures possess a number of disadvantages and limitations when compared with large-scale producers and agro-industrial complexes.