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Discussion
of Case Study Themes
At
a Glance
Although the United States is undergoing a post-industrial
transformation, it continues to have a strong agricultural
sector and continues to emphasize maintenance of a strong
manufacturing center. Population density in the Midwest
is much higher than in the Western Mountains. This difference
is related to the type of economy pursued in each region.
International trade and investment are transforming
the economic geographies of both the Midwest and the
Western Mountains. Transportation networks are very
important to both regions, as seen in the development
of dams to create navigable rivers in Oregon and the
proximity of manufacturing plants to major highways
in the Midwest. Technological innovations are helping
both automobile manufacturers and those employed in
the agricultural sector improve their yield and productivity.
The problems of both preserving salmon runs and producing
higher quality automobiles are being addressed by the
adoption of new ways of thinking, the diffusion of new
ideas, and by cooperation with diverse cultural groups.
Case
Study 1 -- Oregon: The Fight for Water
Rain
Shadow Creates a Regional Transition Zone
Water resource management issues in Oregon are framed
by the state's location astride a regional transition
zone from the West Coast to the Western Mountains.
As
moist maritime air moves inland from the Pacific Ocean,
the Cascade Range thrusts the air upward, causing
it to cool. This increases the relative humidity of
the air, forming clouds and altitude-induced precipitation
known as orographic (mountain) rainfall. The result
is a heavily vegetated, moist environment on the Cascade's
windward, or exposed, side, which faces the winds
flowing across it. As air descends on the protected,
or leeward, side of the Cascades, it warms, and the
relative humidity decreases. The resulting rain shadow
effect creates a semi-arid environment in eastern
Oregon.
Transformation
of the Marginal Interior
No region on earth has been shaped by human technology
the way North America has. This transformation is
reflected on the western landscape of the U.S. by
dams and water projects. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
has built over seven hundred dams. One such water
project is located on the Umatilla River in eastern
Oregon. Now, as water flows down the Umatilla, instead
of continuing along its original course, a government-subsidized
dam diverts water via canals to dozens of farms. As
seen in the satellite photos in the video, hundreds
of fields are now irrigated in circular patterns near
the junction of the Umatilla and the larger Columbia
River.
Water
Fuels an Economy at Home and Abroad
For much of the 20th century, the U.S. government
played a major role in harnessing water resources
for land owners in the Western Mountains in an effort
to support a productive agricultural economy. Today,
eastern Oregon farmer Chet Pryor depends on center-pivot
irrigation to grow carrots, wheat, alfalfa, and potatoes
-- not only for the domestic market but for export
as well. With the benefits of a government subsidized
water supply, Pryor and his fellow farmers in Umatilla
Valley produce almost $100 million of agricultural
crops a year. Oregon's agricultural exports are a
bright spot not only in the state's but also in the
nation's balance of trade.
Farmers
in eastern Oregon use water not only for irrigation,
but for transportation. Most of the French fry potato
harvest and other crops produced along the Umatilla
begin their journey to market on barges that travel
west on the Columbia toward the Pacific. In the French
fry example, thirty percent of the local harvest then
continues across the ocean to the western Pacific
Rim. One reason barges can navigate the once rocky
and fast-moving Columbia is the presence of multipurpose
dams. From its headwaters in British Columbia to its
mouth at the Pacific Ocean, the Columbia is tamed
by fourteen dams that now raise the water level to
navigable depths for most of its course.
Water
resource management projects -- to meet irrigation
needs, provide inexpensive energy through hydroelectric
power generation, increase river navigability, and
regulate flood waters -- have changed the nature of
the Columbia River in order to fuel the agricultural
and urban sectors of the state.
Deserts
and Dams -- But at What Cost?
Efforts to develop Oregon's economy through water
management projects have severely affected the life
cycle of salmon as they migrate from river to ocean
and back again. They have also wreaked havoc on those
native communities once dependent on abundant salmon
harvests.
Before
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was charged with
increasing the navigability of the Columbia River
early in the 20th Century, millions of salmon entered
the river each year, traveling upstream and spawning
in tributaries like the Umatilla. Traditionally, native
tribes depended on fish for their survival. Now that
the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation regulates this tributary,
the Umatilla has been diverted for irrigation and
the low flow of the river can support neither thriving
salmon runs nor the native culture based on the once
abundant harvest of the salmon.
Because
water is scarce in this region, the Bureau of Reclamation
initially intended that the water from their developments
go only to a limited number of farmers. But some of
the farmers who were authorized as irrigation districts
conserved their free allocations of this valuable
commodity and sold it at a profit to other Umatilla
Valley farmers like Chet Pryor.
Desperate
to save their salmon, some Native Americans are threatening
legal action based on long-standing treaty rights
with the federal government. They want to stop such
"water spreading" and preserve this resource
for their needs. Yet not all Native American tribes
are sure they want to shut off the water supply to
farmers like Pryor. The farmers in this area have
accomplished just what the government, through the
Bureau of Reclamation, intended -- they have made
the desert bloom. Reducing the supply of irrigation
water now would hurt not only the farmers, but the
whole region.
Salmon
and the Windward Side of the Columbia Watershed
For millions of years, salmon laid their eggs in small
rivers and tributaries like the Umatilla. The young
smolts were then washed down the unrestricted Columbia
to mature in the Pacific. Years later, the adult salmon
returned upstream to spawn in their birthplace. Enormous
multipurpose dams on the Columbia now impede both
legs of the salmon's journey. Those salmon that survive
the trip downstream over the dams can now return upstream
only with the help of fish ladders-steps of running
water built to bypass the dams.
Taking
into account the impact of other human interference
on salmon tributary spawning grounds, such as low
in-stream flow due to irrigation diversion projects,
biologists point to these dams on the main stem of
the Columbia as the main cause of dramatically declining
fish counts. Both biologists and engineers have proposed
solutions, but most are expensive and would mean less
water for vital economic activities ranging from transportation
to inexpensive hydroelectric power generation.
Most
of the electricity in the region is generated by Columbia
River dams in the Western Mountains. But transmission
lines extend across the regional transition zone to
consumers on the West Coast, where the state's population
and political power are concentrated. Residents in
both regions thus benefit from water policies pursued
in the dry interior. Not only do the dams provide
cheap electricity, but many West Coast jobs are tied
to the trading and shipping of agricultural products
and lumber that are sent by barge downstream from
eastern Oregon.
As
the population along Oregon's coast has increased,
residents have become more protective of the environment
in which salmon once symbolized both wilderness and
prosperity. Faced with declining catches, ocean-going
commercial fishermen have joined West Coast environmentalists
and leeward Indian tribes across this regional transition
zone in calling for solutions to the conflict between
the management of scarce water resources and salmon
preservation.
Case
Study 2 -- U.S. Midwest: Spatial Innovations
Economic
Geography in the Midwest: Diffusion of Innovation
In this second case study, James Rubenstein of Miami
University of Ohio presents an analysis of the changing
economic geography of the United States. Economic
geographers like Rubenstein are interested in the
reasons for the location, concentration, and distribution
of economic activity. Through the identification of
land-use and landscape patterns that reflect selected
types of economic activity, geographers can explain
why particular places grow or decline over time and
make predictions about the future.
The
questions that drive Rubenstein's research are threefold:
he is interested in where major manufacturers locate,
the relative location of new suppliers of parts for
these large operations, and the diffusion of Japanese
production techniques in the U.S. automobile manufacturing
industry.
The
principle of diffusion can be described as the geographical
spread of an idea from a given point over an increasingly
wider area (see Program 4 for another example of diffusion).
Geographers study the spreading of an idea or innovation
from its source outward across the landscape at varying
scales: local, national, and international. In the
case of the U.S. automobile industry, research often
focuses on the factors that promote and impede the
adoption of the Toyota Production System, or lean
production method, a highly efficient production method
that has revolutionized the automobile assembly process.
Lean Production -- Supplies Delivered Just in Time
Lean production combines teamwork, bottom-up engineering,
worker involvement, just-in-time delivery, and the
philosophy of continuous improvement, all to great
advantage. One aspect of lean production is particularly
spatial in nature: just-in-time delivery.
Just-in-time
is an inventory control system based on the idea that
instead of maintaining large inventories, each workstation
on an assembly line keeps only a few hours supply
of parts on hand at any given time. Very small lots
are ordered by workers as parts are used. Once an
installer finishes with one container of parts, a
new one drops into place, and the worker pulls and
processes its kanban, that is, its inventory ticket.
The kanban is sent to nearby parts suppliers where
parts are packaged and delivered to the factory for
installation within about eight hours. No paperwork,
no middle managers, and most importantly, no space-consuming
idle inventory.
Just-in-time
manufacturing is reshaping the factory floor and is,
on a much larger scale, also changing the geography
of parts supply networks. The old mass production
process more easily accommodated parts shipped from
around the world -- an engine from Germany, a transmission
from Japan, bumpers from Korea -- as an integrated
individual car was produced. But just-in-time puts
a premium on proximity and quality control Parts suppliers
in the Midwest have settled along two major highways,
now known as the "kanban highways," near
the assembly plants they serve. The new geography
of parts supply, along with the rest of the lean production
system, have been grafted onto the North American
landscape by Japanese transplants.
Distance
and Accessibility -- Transportation Networks
Why did Japanese automakers set up production in the
Midwest? The answer is distance and accessibility.
The major automakers of Japan have virtually eliminated
the greatest portion of their shipping costs by setting
up shop in the midst of their market. The centrality
of the Midwest, not only to a large consumer base
but also to existing parts manufacturers and suppliers,
was a key element in the transmigration of this industry.
The
placement of these new factories was linked to transportation
networks already existing in the U.S. infrastructure.
When choosing factory sites, the Japanese considered
the spatial proximity of existing parts manufacturers
to new factory sites and to defined highway systems.
This increased the efficiency of parts ordering while,
simultaneously, the just-in-time production method
decreased the need for large inventory storage and
error reprocess areas within production plants.
Globalization
in the Midwest
The influx of Japanese automobile manufacturers into
the U.S. Midwest represents the spatial dimensions
of an open-door economic policy that has allowed foreign
investors to open and maintain factories and businesses
in the U.S. The cost associated with bringing finished
products to consumers was a major factor in the decision
to locate Japanese plants at sites within five hundred
miles of the majority of the U.S. population. Not
only have Japanese car makers reaped benefits from
their U.S.-based ventures, these ventures have also
boosted local economies through increasing employment
opportunities in the Midwest.
The
U.S. automobile industry has benefited from the globalization
of Japanese automobile manufacturing. Cooperation
between the Japanese and the Americans has allowed
for the transfer of key Japanese production techniques
to U.S. industries. While the transfer of ideas appears
to be in one direction, it is actually reciprocal
when one considers the history of the automobile production
process. Japanese insights represent an updating of
production techniques pioneered earlier in the century,
the so-called Ford Model, as well as quality control
concepts originally conceived in the U.S. some forty
years later.
Today
the diffusion of new ideas continues as new trends
in auto manufacturing are integrated. Lean production
and just-in-time techniques are further refined as
auto manufacturers search to increase their profits
in a competitive market.
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