In the rural Bahian town of São Sebastião do Passé a daring young rider gets a tenuous grip before flipping a steer with his bare hands at a vaquejada, Brazil’s version of a rodeo. The town lies in cattle country that stretches away from the hot and humid coastal region of sugar and coffee plantations. Bahia’s semiarid outback is studded with shrubs and cactuses. Cattle producers boost productivity with center-pivot irrigation, greening up huge circular pastures to satisfy Brazilians’ hunger for grass-fed beef.