The knowledge of farmers about the use of land can assist in soils survels. This study was conducted on the Fazenda Americana, located in northwester Minas Gerais State, Brazil, to relate the local knowledge of the environments to soil chemical and physical attributes and to the Land Use Capacity System, with an Agrarian reform focus. Based on the local knowledge seven environments were identified: baixa, vereda, chapada, tabuleiro, carrasco, tabuleiro misto and espigão (terms roughly translatable as: lowland, palm swamp, plateau, tableland, tall shrubland, mixed tableland and range top land). The local knowledge of environments is closely related with the Land Use Capability Classes, and represents a tool for the partitioning of land for Agrarian reform.
Land Use Capability Classes; agrarian reform; ethnopedology
