PerspectivesWhat is a potato? |  |
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For most people, a potato is food on a dinner plate. But there are many ways of looking at Solanum tuberosum. For millions of farmers, it is a vital source of income. For plant breeders, taxonomists, nutritionists - even sociologists and historians - it is a fascinating subject of research. For many of those who work daily with the potato, it has become an often passionate way of life. Here we present viewpoints gathered from "potato people" around the globe. |
Potato science for the poor. Pamela Anderson is Director General of the International Potato Center (CIP) in Peru. In March, CIP co-sponsored one of the flagship events of the International Year - a working conference in Cuzco to develop a new research agenda for potato in the developing world.
How the potato changed the world. John Reader has photographed Rolling Stones' recording sessions and australopithecine footprints in Tanzania, and written acclaimed works such as Man on earth and Africa - biography of the continent. His new book is Propitious esculent: the potato in world history
A view from the Andes. Lino Mamani is a "potato guardian" in the Sacaca farming community in the Peruvian Andes. His and five neighbouring communities have established a 12 000 ha "potato park" where they cultivate and conserve Andean potato varieties
Unravelling the potato genome. Christian Bachem, of Wageningen UR in the Netherlands, is coordinator of the Potato Genome Sequencing Consortium (PGSC), an international research network that aims at revealing the potato's complete set of DNA by the end of 2010
Who gains, who loses. Marco Bindi, of the University of Florence, Italy, has participated in EU-funded projects on the impact of climate change on natural and agricultural ecosystems, and is a lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Fourth Assessment Report Climate Change 2007
New light on a "hidden treasure". As the roots-and-tubers specialist at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome, NeBambi Lutaladio found himself with an additional task in 2007 - to coordinate implementation of the International Year of the Potato...
"In front of a potato, we are all equal". Stanislav Menard is a businessman whose paper factory in Slovenia churns out 3.5 billion envelopes a year. But away from his high-speed machinery, he has a special interest: he's president of the Slovenian Society for Sautéed Potato and Onions...