Economy
Thanks to favourable climate and fertile grounds, the lower western plateau is the most important agricultural region of Switzerland. The most important cultures are wheat, barley, maize, sugar beet and potato; especially in the Seeland, vegetables are very important, too. Along the northern shores of the lakes of lake of Geneva, lake of Neuchâtel, lake of Bienne, lake of Morat, as well as in the Zürich Weinland and Klettgau, there is viticulture. Grassland with dairy farming and beef production is predominant in the eastern plateau and in the higher regions. Especially in the Thurgau, fruit (apples) is important.
The forests in the Swiss Plateau are used in forestry. There are many Norway Spruce forestations, often in monoculture because of their valuable timber.
With respect to industry, the plateau is the most important region of Switzerland. The traditional textile industries are situated especially in the central and eastern regions. During the last decades, however, it lost importance. Today's most important industries are the machine industry, the automotive industry, the electrical industry, the fine & micro mechanical, watch & electronic industries, next to the optical and metal construction's. The food industry processes domestic as well as foreign produces. Furthermore, wood processing and paper converting are also important.
Like all Switzerland, there are few mineral resources. Thanks to the Ice Age glaciers, there is plenty of gravel and clay. The gravel digging in the Ice Age gravel terraces all over the Swiss Plateau covers the demands of the construction industry.
Numerous hydroelectric power plants in the rivers produce electricity. All four Swiss nuclear power plants are situated in the plateau.
Read more about this topic: Swiss Plateau
Famous quotes containing the word economy:
“Even the poor student studies and is taught only political economy, while that economy of living which is synonymous with philosophy is not even sincerely professed in our colleges. The consequence is, that while he is reading Adam Smith, Ricardo, and Say, he runs his father in debt irretrievably.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The basis of political economy is non-interference. The only safe rule is found in the self-adjusting meter of demand and supply. Do not legislate. Meddle, and you snap the sinews with your sumptuary laws.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“It enhances our sense of the grand security and serenity of nature to observe the still undisturbed economy and content of the fishes of this century, their happiness a regular fruit of the summer.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)