What a difference 166 years makes. In August 1845, a potato fungus called Phytophthora infestans was found in the crops of Irish farmers. It led to the most infamous famine in history. Over the next six years, 27.3 percent of the population of Ireland had been lost to starvation, epidemics, pandemics and emigration. On August 4, 2011, North Dakota State University Blightline announced that the same Late Blight had been discovered both there and in Minnesota. By August 26, 2011, they were able to announce that it was almost gone.
NDSU Announcement: No Additional Phytophthora in North Dakota
The North Dakota State University (NDSU) Blightline is sponsored by one of the largest potato growers in the region. Syngenta Crop Protection, based in Greensboro, North Carolina, was the first to tell the general public that the Late Blight had appeared amongst American crops. It had been reported previously, on July 26, 2011, to industry insiders by the newsletter of the Northern Plains Potato Growers Association. Phytophthora, a fungus that blackens potatoes, was found throughout west central and southern Minnesota, as well as eastern North Dakota.
The authorities were quick to act. Farmers were advised on the best fungicides and practices needed to combat the spread of the Late Blight. That course of action still holds current, as growers seek to contain and eradicate this crop infection. However, exactly one month since the alarm was sounded, there is good news.
The NDSU latest update, dated August 26, 2011, states, "No additional late blight has been reported in our region, but late blight continues to be present in some fields at low levels." But there was still caution against prematurely withdrawing from the fight against Phytophthora. "All growers should continue to apply protectant fungicides until vine kill to minimize tuber infection if rain develops around harvest time."
How the Late Blight Ravaged Ireland During the Potato Famine
In August 1845, Phytophthora infestans began to infest some of the potato crops in Ireland. Historians are divided upon its severity. Hoppen stated that a sixth of the overall national harvest was saved, with some areas of Ireland not affected at all. Jackson wrote that as much as 50 percent of the crops were untouched by the Late Blight. Unfortunately, without modern fungicides and immediate action, the situation could only worsen; and it did. In August 1846, there was a total crop failure.
By 1851, the Great Famine was effectively over. This was also the year of a national census, which revealed just how many Irish people had died of starvation and the other effects of the loss of the potato crops. 2.5 million is the official total, as calculated by census commissioners. But historian Cecil Woodham-Smith argued that this estimate was too low, noting that “vital statistics are unobtainable, no record was kept of deaths, and very many persons must have died and been buried unknown, as the fever victims died and were buried in west Cork, as bodies, found lying dead on the road, were buried in ditches, and as the timid people of Erris perished unrecorded.”
The situation became so dire because potatoes had long been the staple diet for the majority of the Irish people. Much of the rest of Ireland's food produce was exported, primarily to England. This continued throughout the crisis, leading to the view that famine was just the manifestation of genocide against the Irish.
This was certainly the position of Prime Minister Robert Peel, who resigned his office in 1846, with an angry speech condemning his own ministers. He raged, "Good God, are you to sit in cabinet and consider and calculate how much diarrhea, and bloody flux, and dysentery a people can bear before it becomes necessary for you to provide them with food?" It was also the view of Tony Blair, prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007, who formally apologised to the Irish people in 1997.
The Legacy of the Irish for the Americans Today
Fortunately for the American people, their own authorities are much quicker off the mark with tackling modern outbreaks of the Late Blight. It was the experience of the Irish, over 150 years ago today, that helped provide scientists with the knowledge to defeat Phytophthora infestans. Six years of devastation now becomes just a few weeks of carefully regulated action that barely registers a bleep in the world's media.
Sources:
- AgWeek: Late blight found in ND, Minnesota. (August 4th, 2011.)
- K Theodore Hoppen, Ireland Since 1800: Conflict and Conformity. (Longman, 1998.)
- The Independent, Blair issues apology for Irish Potato Famine. (June 2nd, 1997.)
- A Jackson, Ireland 1798-1998. (Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2003.)
- North Dakota State University: Blightline, August 26th 2011.
- C Woodham-Smith, The Great Hunger. (Penguin, 1992.)
Jo Harrington - Jo has a BA (Hons) in History and Philosophy and a MA in History. She has a book published on the history of Wicca.
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