Nowadays, in the XXI century in the context of globalization, mechanization and commodification of the world, rural economies are in force. In this paper, some critical elements are presented to analyze the ecosystemic, cultural, social and economic performance of rural economies, recognizing its importance in safeguarding cultural expressions, in the occupation of labor in food production and the finding of different rationales to the dominant, allowing see a beyond modern economic, scientific and cultural notion of the world. To conduct this work, the concept of rural economies with that of sustainability and specifically with the categories created by the ecological economy, weak and strong sustainability, related to identifying the possibilities and limitations in this complex relationship.