THE CHALLENGES OF EXTENSION FACING A NEW AND CHANGING NOTION OF RURALITY In the face of the changes occurring in the rural realm, the forms and strategies used in extension practices cannot remain immobile. To address this concern, the objective of this article is to reflect on and discuss in turn the challenges implicit in adjustment of traditional extension models to the new ways of conceiving, emphasizing, and interpreting the rural realm. To this end, the document amplifies three main topics: the transition of agricultural extension to rural extension, the profile of the new rural extensionist, and the role of the extensionist in the multidimensional rural realm. The document ends with some considerations about what the suggested changes presumable imply.