How the humble potato stopped conflict

Thehumble potato – drought-resistant, able to thrive in diverse soils, andenjoyed fried, steamed or baked – brought centuries of relative calmand prosperity to Europe after its introduction in the 16th century, anew study says.The crop, discovered in Latin America in the 1400sbefore eventually sweeping through Europe, greatly boosted productivity,helping lower land costs while improving nutrition and raising wages,from peasants up to the ruling classes, according to the study for theNational Bureau of Economic Research. The blessings that flowed fromthis agricultural revolution helped ease the economic and societalpressures that can lead to costly and disastrous conflicts, says thereport.The introduction of potatoes and the resultant increase inproductivity “dramatically reduced conflict” both within and betweenstates for some two centuries, it says.The researchers, who examined 2,477 battles fought in 899 wars over a 500-year period, drew two key conclusions.The first is linked to the declining value of land on which potatoes are grown. Accordingto the study, the value of the land on which potatoes were grown fellwith advances in productivity. Populations were able to feed themselveson ever smaller amounts of land. “Conflicts declined when the value of the object for which one was fighting decreased,” the study says.Meantime,increases in farmers’ incomes, often due to much bigger and morereliable harvests, boosted tax revenues for the state, providing addedgovernmental stability and thereby helping to “buy” the peace, thereport states.To risk losing these resources – for workers and forpolitical leaders – represented a financial danger that states were lessand less willing to risk, resulting in “a decline in peasant revoltsand civil wars,” the study said.It had become “too expensive to engage in combat.”Theanalysis does not detail the impact of specific wars or conflicts butsays that most of those studied took place on the borders of modern-dayAustria, France, Russia and Turkey. Others were in the Near East andNorth Africa.The potato was selected for the study because it can begrown in many types of soil and is resistant to “drought shocks,”researchers say, while other vegetables cannot be grown in conditions ashot or cold. Cultivation of the potato improved nutrition inperiods of cold or drought, helping ease the pressures of supportinggrowing populations, said Murat Iyigun, one of the study’s authors.The study’s conclusions square with previous research on the link between climate shocks and a country’s entry into war.“Theclimatic shocks observed over time, like rough winters, have tended tofavour the emergence of conflicts,” said Iyigun, a University ofColorado professor. “People have had to fight to survive.”Do these theories apply to the contemporary world? Partially, he said.“Oneof the keys to development, without risk of conflict, for the very poorstates still largely dependent on agriculture is linked to improvingand steadying the supply of their agricultural output.”