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This article discusses family farmer adaptation to climate change in semi-arid regions as local vulnerability reduction and forming transition processes towards more desirable states of socioecological resilience. We apply this methodological framework to the case of the National Program on Biodiesel Production and Use (PNPB) and its efforts to integrate family farmers from the Brazilian northeast into biofuel commodity chains. The results indicate that while the PNPB addresses important components for vulnerability reduction-such as technical assistance or market access-more sustainable futures will essentially rely on broader socioeconomic reforms to break with currently socially exclusive processes. In particular, successful adaptation will need concerted actions at local, regional and national scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]