industries and economy,”Where irrigation is possible, farmers take advantage of the nearly year-roundgrowing season to cultivate high-quality fruits, nuts, and vegetables. Asdiscussed in the opening vignette of this chapter (see also Figure 2.48),California’s Central Valley is a leading agricultural producer in the United States.• Migrant Mexican workers, often undocumented immigrants and sometimesmere children, supply most of the labor and lower the cost of North Americanfood by working for very low wages.• Information and service industries—high-tech, software, financial, and theentertainment industries (in Los Angeles, for example)—are the most profitableand employ the most people.• On the eastern flank of this region, Austin, Texas, has attracted IT industries,lured by research activities connected to the University of Texas.• From the start of the first decade of the 2000s, residents of Southern Californiaand the Southwest have had to worry about energy costs, congestion, smog

industries and economy,”Where irrigation is possible, farmers take advantage of the nearly year-roundgrowing season to cultivate high-quality fruits, nuts, and vegetables. Asdiscussed in the opening vignette of this chapter (see also Figure 2.48),California’s Central Valley is a leading agricultural producer in the United States.• Migrant Mexican workers, often undocumented immigrants and sometimesmere children, supply most of the labor and lower the cost of North Americanfood by working for very low wages.• Information and service industries—high-tech, software, financial, and theentertainment industries (in Los Angeles, for example)—are the most profitableand employ the most people.• On the eastern flank of this region, Austin, Texas, has attracted IT industries,lured by research activities connected to the University of Texas.• From the start of the first decade of the 2000s, residents of Southern Californiaand the Southwest have had to worry about energy costs, congestion, smog

andincreasingly scarce water.”