Artifact #5

Cadet Matthew Saunders

3/23/16

Artifact #5 – Irish Potato Blight

The potato was of extreme importance to the eastern world, in particularly the Irish. The crop did not originate in Ireland in fact it started in Mexico/South America. The Irish however got the potato and found out that it would grow very well in the damp climate. The potato was seen as a poor person crop because it had such yield but was not that flavorful and was easy to grow. The amount of crop that could be harvested for the amount of land needed was amazing. You could feed a family of 14 with just a quarter of an acre. The potato was a large source of nutrients containing carbs, fats, and all other necessities to survive.

The political situation was unfortunate for the Irish. The land they farmed on and lived off of was not their own. Land was rented from British land lords and the Irish did not see why, to them this was their land and not England’s. When the potato blight struck there was no food to be found besides grass and leaves and of course the rent was still due. This caused tensions to rise and some revolts to actually take place. The people were furious because the blight had taken there only food source and then the British still required the same rent, if the rent was not paid you were forced out of your home and it would be burned. The population sky rocketed before the blight growing from one to two million n all the way to eight million in just fifteen or so years. This was poorly timed with the potato blight when as many as one in three to four people dies from either starvation or disease from the poor living conditions or on the journey to America where they found living condition to be even worse.

The massive Immigration from Ireland to the US was costly in the journey itself where many died. For those who did make it, roughly one million, they found terrible living conditions where rats and lice were infected and they lived in slums where there was one shower for every two hundred and fifty people. They did however find hope and food in America; it was interesting to see how the villages in America soon became segregated in groups of Irish that were from similar parts of Ireland.

The potato blight was brought to Ireland from Mexico is what is believed to have happened. The potato was vulnerable to a pathogen that rotted them very quickly and in some cases overnight. The pathogen deteriorated the part of the plant that was out of the grown turning it black. The actual crop would rot and have black spots and if several hours passed would be turned from a tough nutritious potato to mush. Trying to salvage some of the potatoes did not work either as the pathogen was spread by wind or water. So if you had good potatoes and put one that had just been infected in the same basket the entire basket would then become infected. Eating a potato with eh blight was also certain death, the Irish had a tough choice, eat the potato and die or starve to death as many refused to leave their country.

The GMO is not alarming it is simply a potato that is resistant to the blight and this is a rather amazing break through as this will help the price of potatoes since there will be less chemicals used to prevent the blight as it is still very present in today’s society.