My dissertation was on plant pathology, not agricultural socio-economics, and therefore only a blurb in my lit. review is relevant.
My point could be summarized as:
1. The English steal all the land. 2. The Irish need a place to grow food and "rent" land from the English. 3. The English get all the "good" food. 4. The Irish resort to depending on potatoes. 5. A "fungus" kills the potatoes. 6. The Irish starve. 7. The English don't raise a finger to help. 8. MORE Irish starve, and they begin to emmigrate. 9. New York City get's a shitload "Micks" (no offense).
People don't learn about the similar potato crop losses that occured in Scotland and Germany during this same period due to late blight.
Admittedly, this is off-topic. But I did my Ph.D. on the stuff and comments like that perturb me!
It is a common misconception that the disease known as late blight, caused by the Oomycete (Phytophthora infestans) "caused" the Irish potato famine. Yes it is true that the Irish were growing only a few varieties of potato (monoculture), but the REAL reason was the socio-economic structure put in place by those bastard English. Essentially, most of the Irish farmers (which was damn near everyone), "rented" the land from rich English landowners. This meant that they grew vegetables, wheat, etc. to pay for the rent, and grew potatoes for food because they stored well. Late blight reduces crop yield both before harvest (lost foliage) and after harvest (tuber rot), and by removing potatoes as a food source, the Irish began starving. The English did nothing to help the them during this time. In fact, the rental system stayed in place throughout the whole famine.
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My dissertation was on plant pathology, not agricultural socio-economics, and therefore only a blurb in my lit. review is relevant.
My point could be summarized as:
1. The English steal all the land.
2. The Irish need a place to grow food and "rent" land from the English.
3. The English get all the "good" food.
4. The Irish resort to depending on potatoes.
5. A "fungus" kills the potatoes.
6. The Irish starve.
7. The English don't raise a finger to help.
8. MORE Irish starve, and they begin to emmigrate.
9. New York City get's a shitload "Micks" (no offense).
People don't learn about the similar potato crop losses that occured in Scotland and Germany during this same period due to late blight.
Admittedly, this is off-topic. But I did my Ph.D. on the stuff and comments like that perturb me!
It is a common misconception that the disease known as late blight, caused by the Oomycete (Phytophthora infestans) "caused" the Irish potato famine. Yes it is true that the Irish were growing only a few varieties of potato (monoculture), but the REAL reason was the socio-economic structure put in place by those bastard English. Essentially, most of the Irish farmers (which was damn near everyone), "rented" the land from rich English landowners. This meant that they grew vegetables, wheat, etc. to pay for the rent, and grew potatoes for food because they stored well. Late blight reduces crop yield both before harvest (lost foliage) and after harvest (tuber rot), and by removing potatoes as a food source, the Irish began starving. The English did nothing to help the them during this time. In fact, the rental system stayed in place throughout the whole famine.