sparsely populated territory running from northeastern to southwestern France. The main communes in Auvergne are (2019 census, municipal population): Clermont-Ferrand (147,865), Montluçon (34,361), Aurillac (25,593), and Vichy (24,980). Major communities Aurillac Chamalières Clermont-Ferrand Cournon-d'Auvergne Issoire Le Puy-en-Velay Montluçon Moulins, Allier Riom Vichy Thiers, Puy-de-Dôme Economy The region is predominantly agricultural, with tourism slowly growing. Both beef and dairy cattle are plentiful, and there are several well-known cheeses: Bleu d'Auvergne, Cantal, Fourme d'Ambert and Saint-Nectaire. Despite its small local market, the Auvergne region has developed many national and international companies, such as Michelin, Limagrain (seed), the Centre France-La Montagne group (regional daily press), Volvic mineral water (Danone group) and numerous dynamic SMEs around the two universities and high schools (engineering, medical and business) of its capital, Clermont-Ferrand. Most of these companies export more than 75% of their production. Auvergne is also a relatively industrial region: the share of the working population in industry is 22% (110,000 jobs), compared to the national average of 18%. The main industry is the tyre industry, represented by Michelin, with headquarters and history is located in Clermont-Ferrand, and Dunlop, based in Montluçon. There is also a diverse range of small industries, particularly in the Puy-de-Dôme and the Haute-Loire: metallurgical (Aubert and Duval), mechanical, pharmaceutical (Merck-Chibret), food—cereals; meat (Salers, Limousin)—as well as cheese. These include Thiers cutlery, metal Issoire, lace in Le Puy, and livestock as well as food in the Cantal. The Auvergne is one of the premier research areas in France with more than 8,000 researchers in the fields of chemistry, tires, steel, medical and pharmaceutical sciences in agricultural research (INRA and Limagrain laboratories), in biotechnology, seismology and meteorology. The food industry, with its branches mineral water, dairy products, meat products, forestry, honey, jams and candied fruit, employs over 12,000 people. In 2018, the animal theme park Le Pal had 640,000 visitors, making it the most visited theme park in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Le Pal is the fifth most visited amusement park in France and the fourth in the zoo sector. In popular culture Clark Ashton Smith's stories are set in a fictionalised version of medieval Auvergne. The 2002 film To Be and to Have () documents one year in the life of a one-teacher school in rural . is a collection of folk songs from the Auvergne region arranged by Joseph Canteloube for soprano solo and orchestra in five series beginning in the 1920s. The original