Arracacha incorporates some characteristics from both carrot and celery, being of the same family (Apiaceae). The economically valuable part of the plant is a starchy storage root. The young stems can be used in salads or as a cooked vegetable, and the leaves are often fed to livestock. There are two major drawbacks to arracacha use. First is its short shelf life; it must reach consumers within a week of harvest. Second is the plants high susceptibility to viruses. Arracacha has been cultivated in southern Brazil for some 100 years, but over the last 40 years has developed into a major horticultural operation providing income to thousands of farm families. The crop is currently produced there on 12,000 hectares and is one of the country's most highly prized vegetables. Farmers like arracacha because it needs only a fraction of the inputs required for potato, and because it produces high returns to investments. Arracacha is a rare case of a legal, high-value cash crop that poor farmers can grow. Food companies process arracacha roots into a number of products such as baby food, instant soups, and precooked roots.