Potatoes are good for feeding a growing world.
Potato farmers use sustainable growing techniques to ensure healthy crops generation after generation. The care of the soil is a year-round affair involving the addition of compost, rotation of crops, and growing cover crops. These reduce erosion and add nutrients to the soil naturally. Great care is taken to conserve water and reduce evaporation with constant monitoring of irrigation.
According to the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization, potatoes produce more nutritious food more quickly, on less land, and in harsher climates than any other major crop.1 Potatoes play an important role in food security, particularly for developing countries. Half of the world’s food energy needs are supplied by potatoes, rice, wheat, and corn.2
Potatoes are good for a healthy, sustainable earth. In fact, potatoes produce more food energy per cubic meter of water used than any other major crop3 and use less land per kilogram of production than most other foods.4
1 “International Year of the Potato.” Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
2 Wijesinha-Bettoni, R., Mouillé, B. The Contribution of Potatoes to Global Food Security, Nutrition and Healthy Diets. Am. J. Potato Res. 96, 139–149 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12230-018-09697-1
4 “International Year of the Potato.” Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. https://www.fao.org/3/i0500e/i0500e01.pdf. Accessed 15 Nov. 2021.