Minas Gerais was once known for milk and cheese production. Today Brazil is a major importer of dairy products to supply the domestic demand. At the same time the advent of large monocultures, such as eucalyptus plantations, raise the question of ecology. Along the western exit road BR-262, towards the ‘Triangolo Mineiro,’ the city comes in direct contact with rather extensive forms of agriculture. The hilly landscape is occupied by scrubs, termites and detached herds of Zebu and Holstein cattle. Dairy farming – next to mining, the traditional industry of Minas Gerais – consumes large plots of land and demands very little ‘cultivative’ measures. Closer to the city towards the south the landscape again looks different and so does the cultivation. Here a small scale, 'near by-production' can be found which works quite different from the big scale farming in other places. The role of this 'green-belt' is described and portrayed in this study and a story about a city and its surrounding farming land, not at first expected to be found in Brazil, is told.