What we Haven’t Learned from the Potato Famine

“Those who cannot learn remember the past are doomed to repeat it”

As the United States pushes forward in agricultural industrialization, a problem looms. As I’ve talked about before, we have literally overwhelmed ourselves with corn. In our unrelenting push for the highest yields, seeds are engineered, modified, and chosen for quantity - not quality or diversity. The result? What we grow becomes less diverse each year.

(photo courtesy of PlanMyGreen)

It’s not just corn. This article claims:

“Historically, humans utilized more than 7,000 plant species to meet their basic food needs…today…only 150 plant species are under cultivation, and the majority of humans live on only 12 plant species”

Why is this lack of crop diversity a problem?

Let me take you back to Ireland in 1852. A disease, late blight, took over the potato crop, wiping out a large portion of the food these people relied upon to survive. This wasn’t just an inconvenience, 10-15% of the population died, and just as many fled the country.

(photo courtesy of Caro’s Lines)

Now, as I’ve mentioned before, humans only eat 3% of the corn we grow in this country. Alas, when the great corn plague arrives, we’ll have to go forego roasted corn at the fall festival, and our salsa may feel a little compromised. But we’ll survive. Or will we?

Don’t count on eating any beef that year, our cattle will starve to death. So will our chickens. Over 50% of our corn crop becomes animal feed. Additionally, over 50% of the products in the supermarket include corn in some form or another. Perhaps other countries will be able to sell us theirs (at exorbitant prices), leaving themselves in trouble. No, as one of the wealthiest nations, we won’t starve, but the ripple effect will be felt worldwide.

Don’t believe me? Imagine a group of 1000 people living on an island. If you didn’t know, the reason only 1000 people live on this island is because it can only produce food for that many. Just as in the animal world, societies literally cannot grow in size without access to more food. Now wipe out 25% of their crop (according to the EPA, corn accounted for over 25% of our total crop in 2000). What happens? Bad things, I can assure you.

The more homogenous our crop becomes, the more susceptible we are to having the entire thing wiped out by one disease. In 2000, the US grew over 43% of all corn, on the entire planet.

This isn’t meant to be alarmist, but you can find lots of other discussion here here, and here. The more diversified our crops are, the stronger they’ll be collectively against disease.