Photograph taken on a morning flight east from Sinop, an area that less than thirty years ago was virgin forest. It is now being converted to farmland for growing corn and soy beans.
In the dry season, burning is common practice for searing if not killing most trees. After felling the trees, the scortched wood is gathered into rows and piles for complete destruction, and then the ash is worked into the soil. This area is one of the most recent frontiers of clearing in Mato Grosso part of the Amazon.