Resumen
Rural development policy has become a key to the development of rural areas for the last twenty years. Through a series of initiatives undertaken by the European Union, with the LEADER programme, and by the national government itself, with the PRODER, it has been achieved a diversification of the rural economy, based so far exclusively on farming activities. The aim of this article is to analyze the distribution and dissemination that rural development policies have had in the region of Castile and Leon, one of the regions with the highest index of rurality in the country, through the European Community and national initiatives implemented by Local Action Groups. The results have not been all that was expected but has managed to diversify, and have managed to diversify economically and socially a territory that was doomed to extinction.
