BIO 245X
7/16/18
Noah Delaney-Manuel
Artifact 5: Potato Blight
When any society becomes solely reliant on a single crop it can hold many benefits as well as many problems. If a country can rely on one crop and specialize in growing that crop, then that society can prosper. Before the potato blight in Ireland, the population lived happy and healthy lives, receiving all essential nutrients from almost exclusively the potato. As society grew in Ireland, so grew the need for more food. Since the potato was an easy crop to grow and there had not been a famine in a long time. Unfortunately, this time period of success was halted by famine, disease and misfortune all because of the potato blight. Because of this same dependence which yielded success for the Irish, was the downfall of their successful times. From 1845 to 1852, the potato crop was ravaged by blight.
When potato blight struck in Ireland, it had a very heavy impact on the entire society. Although the blight itself was very devastating, there were many factors that went into the impact of the blight. One of those factors was the growth in population from 3.5 million to 8 million between 1700 to 1840. Like anytime a population grows, so does the demand for living quarters and agriculture. Since the potato blight occurred around the time of the population growth, famine and disease struck. Part of the reason that disease and famine struck was because Ireland was a poor and underdeveloped country; making it easier for disease to spread. Even though the crop went through the blight, its recovery was also harder to gain unlike other crops. Seeded potatoes also had become scarce, making the recovery of the crop to be slow. In result of the potato blight, the nation experienced famine, disease, and emigration. At least 1 million people died from either famine or disease caused from the potato blight.
From moments like this in our worlds past, farmers and scientists have started working on the same thing; a better crop. Today, we have started making genetically modified organisms (or modified foods) that are less susceptible to disease and last longer before rotting. There are many benefits to modifying our food because it will help us eliminate famine and it will let us be able to take the harmful elements from any plant out to benefit people. Although there are positive effects of modifying plants, there is also negative effects. Since we do not have the research on these modifications and their effects on our body, we won’t truly know the effects of these modifications. One thing we do know for sure is that incidents such as the Irish potato blight could soon be a bad memory from the past that will never resurface.
Help received: PowerPoint slides, YouTube video of potato blight
Noah Delaney-Manuel