The potato was frst domesticated in the region o modern-day southern Peru and extreme northwestern Bolivia between 8000 and 000 B!"# $t has since spread around the world and become a staple crop in many countries# $n South America% potatoes provided the principal energy source or the $nca "mpire% its predecessors% and its &panish successor#
How the Patato change the World
 
Patato in "urope  The &panish brought potatoes to "urope in the '(th century# "uropean consumers were reluctant to adopt the potato# )owever% due to the sheer practicality o the potato*adaptability% generally plentiul crops and relatively long shel lie% combined with the nutritional value*it was soon widely accepted and consumed# +hen potato plants bloom% they send up fve-lobed ,owers that spangle felds lie at purple stars# B some
 
•  Today the potato is the fth most important crop worldwide% ater wheat% corn% rice and sugar cane# But in the '8th century the tuber was a startling novelty% rightening to some% bewildering to others* part o a global ecological convulsion set o4 by !hristopher !olumbus#
 
 
Fear of Potatoes
• $t is not unusual or new oods to be met with septicism and ear% especially those arriving rom a strange% araway continent where they are consumed by unciviliCed non-!hristian peoples# The potato% however% had a tougher battle or acceptance than many other oodstu4s introduced rom the /mericas# /side rom its odd% unaesthetic appearance and initially bitter taste% the tuber was
eared or a variety o reasons# &ince it was not mentioned in the Bible% it was oten associated with the devil# /s a conseDuence% in the north o $reland and in &cotland% Protestants ,atly reused to
plant them# $n !atholic $reland% to be on the sae side% peasants sprinled their seed potatoes with holy water and planted them on 5ood 3riday#
• /nother source o preEudice against the potato was its membership in the nightshade amily% which includes a number o poisonous members> deadly nightshade belladonna% which is poisonous;%
mandrae nown as a soporifc and ertility drug;% tobacco% and henbane poison;# &ome o these substances have traditionally been associated in various cultures with magic and witchcrat# $n many ol belies there is a grain o truth# &olanine% contained in the tubers and common to all plants in the
nightshade amily% is indeed a poison# Fnlie modern potatoes% which contain only a nonharmul trace amount% tubers o the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries had much higher levels% not enough to cause death% but sometimes a rash appeared# That led to its association with the
deadliest disease o the time% leprosy# &o great was the ear that% when 3rederic the 5reat o Prussia ordered his people to plant potatoes in 'G??% they pulled them up# 3rederic was orced to post
soldiers to guard the crops# Ten years later% in 'G?% the ing o &weden also ordered his subEects to grow potatoes# Het% when amine struc Iolberg in 'GG?% wagonloads o potatoes sent by 3rederic
were reEected#
 
/ll over "urope% it was believed that the potato plant would
 
The Potato in Time of War "uropeans Duicly discovered that the potato a4orded them a military advantage9 it was ideally suited to combat starvation caused by war# Auring the Autch +ars '(GK'(07;% or example% &panish soldiers crossed the /lps on oot rom $taly% marching north through 3ranche !omptJ% /lsace% and the @hinelands# 2illagers along the route Duicly discovered that tubers carried by the soldiers could be planted% hidden underground% and dug as needed% unlie grain# :early every military venture ater about '(0% including +orld +ar $$% resulted in more acreage being planted in potatoes#
 
Cultivating Potatoes
 
 
 
 
&aster &anagement si Agri'usiness
Proiect &ateria #ngle-a