This astronaut photograph illustrates the diverse agricultural landscape in the western part of Minas Gerais state in Brazil. The fields in this image are located south-west of the city of <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Perdizes" class="mw-disambig" title="Category:Perdizes">Perdizes</a>, which means “partridges” in <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Portuguese" class="mw-redirect" title="Portuguese">Portuguese</a>. A mix of regularly-gridded polygonal fields and circular centre-pivot fields marks the <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Human" class="mw-redirect" title="Human">human</a> use of the region. Small streams (and their adjacent floodplains) of the Araguari River extend like fingers throughout the landscape. – The visual diversity of the field forms is matched by the variety of crops: sunflowers, <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wheat" title="Wheat">wheat</a>, potatoes, <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Coffee" title="Coffee">coffee</a>, <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Rice" title="Rice">rice</a>, <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Soybeans" title="Category:Soybeans">soybeans</a>, and <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Zea_mays" title="Zea mays">corn</a> are among the products of the region. While the <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Category:Northern_hemisphere&amp;action=edit&amp;redlink=1" class="new" title="Category:Northern hemisphere (page does not exist)">Northern Hemisphere</a> is still in the grip of <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Winter" title="Winter">winter</a>, <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Crops" title="Category:Crops">crops</a> are growing in the Southern Hemisphere, as indicated by the many <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Green" title="Green">green</a> fields. <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Fallow" title="Category:Fallow">Fallow</a> fields—not in active agricultural use—display the <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Violet&amp;action=edit&amp;redlink=1" class="new" title="Violet (page does not exist)">violet</a>, reddish, and light tan soils common to this part of Brazil. Darker soils are often rich in <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Iron" title="Iron">iron</a> and <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Aluminum" class="mw-redirect" title="Aluminum">aluminum</a> oxides, and are typical of highly weathered soil that forms in hot, humid climates.
ISS Expedition 26 crew
2011-02-10
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=49352">NASA Earth Observatory</a> – Image acquired with a Nikon D2Xs digital camera using an 800 mm lens, and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations experiment and Image Science &amp; Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center.