United Nations International Year of the Potato

HISTORY
Potatoes arrive in Europe
Potato popularity spreads to America
Irish Potato Famine
The Potato is grown in Space
United Nations International Year of the Potato
 

U.N. International Year of the Potato

Kicking off the International Year of the Potato, 18 October 2007, the chief of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today celebrated the vegetable that is currently the world’s fourth largest food source.

“It is very, very important in terms of total supply,” FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf told reporters of the $350 million potato industry. “And it’s also more and more important for the developing countries for the last 15 years, the production has doubled.

”The main objective of the Year is to promote the sustainable development of both potato-based systems and the potato industry, as well as to bolster producers' and consumers' well-being, affirming the need to focus world attention on the role that the potato can play in providing food security and eradicating poverty.

 
Potatoes arrive in Europe
As potatoes were carried to Italy, England, Belgium, and Germany they were treated with suspicion. Many thought they were poisonous. An edict forbidding their cultivation was issued in one French town. more
   
 
Potato popularity spreads to America
Most modern potatoes grown in North America arrived through European settlement. more
   
 
Irish Potato Famine
The Great Famine was a period of starvation, disease and mass emigration between 1845 and 1852 during which the population of Ireland was reduced by 20 to 25 percent. more
   
 
The Potato is grown in Space
The potato became the first vegetable to be grown in space in October 1995. NASA called in top experts to help them develop super-nutritious and versatile potatoes to feed astronauts on long space voyages. more