The Livestock farming is one of the primary activities held throughout the world by the more
traditional economy. In Brazil, it has been practiced since the arrival of the Portuguese and has
passed by several stages until the present moment. In a not too distant past, it was an extremely
important activity for the conquest and occupation of the territory, because of this, since the 60's
it have been greatly fomented by the federal government, especially in the region of Legal
Amazon. Thus, in the current context in which agribusiness has consolidated itself as a major
economic force in Brazil due to the support gave by the State, the strong capital invested and the
entire media apparatus, the livestock farming receives an even bigger turnaround because Brazil
has become the world's largest beef producer. As a result, many Brazilian municipalities have
livestock farming as their main economic activity, in this case, the municipality of Araguaína
located in the northern region of the state of Tocantins has the beef cattle herding as its most
important agribusiness activity since the 80s, in function of this, is now considered the capital of
the fat ox. From then on, the beef cattle ranch exerts a strong empowerment to the detriment of
other agribusiness activities performed in Araguaína. The municipality counts throughout its
territory with 1050 rural properties that to a lesser or greater degree exert the livestock activity,
in addition to a great number of rural properties in the neighboring municipalities that compose
its micro-region. In this perspective, the objective of this work is to analyze the process of
territorialization of the agribusiness of the beef cattle in the municipality of Araguaína from the
symbolic power attributed to the ox, as well as the speeches of the cattle breeder elite and the
rural syndicate representatives. It is relevant to emphasize the importance of the State for the
growth process of agribusiness activities, as well as the public policies implemented by the State
for the various actors involved in this activity, as well as the care for the environment since
livestock farming has been an activity of great impact to the nature in its development process.
Despite the process of beef cattle development in the municipality, it is partly due to the action
of the rural syndicate and to the role of the cattle breeder elite, who in many cases have a strong
connection with the acting politicians, thus facilitating the claims, and consequently the growth
of this category. The approach of this work translates through the qualitative research, were
followed 04 meetings of transfers of the rural syndicate to its associates with information to
obtain better results for every category. Thus, was applied a questionnaire with closed and open
alternatives to a retinue that participated of the cavalcade in June of 2018, in order to know how
the retinue is formed, their treatment with the animals and the importance of the party for them.
It was also applied questionnaires to 07 livestock farmers during the cavalcade, the survey was to
determine if they were affiliated to the syndicate, the importance of livestock, the care for the
environment, access to credit lines, among other questions. Was also performed a visit to the
park during the 10 days of EXPOARA, observing the interaction of the public with the party and
also the syndicate discourse. In this order, were applied 51 questionnaires to perceive the
influence of livestock in the lives of the Araguainians. In this context, it is evident that livestock
farming has the acceptance of many Araguainans, partly because of its tradition in the region and
the cultural acceptance of the public, as well as through its symbolic power.
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