Did you know that there is agriculture in Brazil since the 16^th century? Agriculture, the culture element I’m studying is part of material culture because it is a basic need and tells and deals with something you can touch. Agriculture is the work of growing crops for example: potatoes, and carrots. It also has to do with animals for example: beef cattle and pork.

 You might be wondering what is agriculture and why it’s important, so let me help you get a better idea of it. Agriculture is another word for farming. Farming is very important. Around the 15 hundreds, the whole world was already farming. Agriculture is a good work. Farmers can get a lot of money selling crops to the people who live in the cities. Not only is farming a good work, but farmers have a lot of luck because the farms are big so farmers have more space to grow crops.

 Did you know that livestock is important to agriculture and there is a special process that the cows need to pass through? Beef are one of the most important kinds of livestock to Brazilian farmers. Farmers depended a lot on cattle to get beef. Between 1970 and 1991 the beef cattle herd grew a lot. It grew about 3.1 percent average yearly rate. With it, the slaughter of beef cattle also increased from 9.6 million to 13.9 million. Today, Brazil has the largest amount of cattle in the world.

 The last part tells about the industry and the process the cow passes through to give us our beef and some of the clothes we use. Around the years 1950 to 1980 lot of beef cattle industries were built to make the farmers work easier. Most of the Brazilian industries still can be found in the outside borders of Brazil but they have problems keeping the industries up to date and clean. To give us beef, the cows have to go to the slaughter house first. The slaughter house is where they kill the cows. Next, the cows go to the meat processing plant, where the cows are cut up. The farmers send some of the meat to the supermarkets and stay with some for themselves. Finally, comes the leather processing plant where they change the cow hide into the leather that some of our clothes are made of. Saddles can also be made out of cowhide.

 In conclusion, Brazil agriculture depends mostly on the livestock, which is the thing that gives them most of the money they get but, it also depends on which type of food you like because if you are vegetarian you would probably prefer vegetables not meat.

---L.O.