The Twelve Ingredients of A Christmas Dinner - Potatoes

The Twelve Ingredients of A Christmas Dinner - Potatoes

The humble potato is that thing staring at you from the dinner plate - be it bashed, boiled, bubble and squeaked, creamed, diced, fried, mashed, roasted, unpeeled and velouted. The variety of ways you can cook a potato is unrivaled by the worldwide number of potato varieties - with approximately five thousand cultivated species.

Three thousand of them are found in the South America mountain region of the Andes in Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. It is also thought that there are around 200 wild species and subspecies. These species can and have been introduced to the cultivated species to create resistances to pests and diseases (see below for those diseases).

For a food stuff that was brought to the English shores from the Americas, it is the fourth largest food group, following rice, wheat and maize. It is thought that it may very well change the Asiatic diet as, according to the United Nations FAO's (Food & Agricultural Organisation) figures for 2010; China produced 74.8 million metric tonnes. The annual diet of the average global citizen includes 33 kilogrammes or 73 pounds of potatoes according to this pdf.

But before you complain about the price of a potato before you drown your par-bolied potato in molten duck fat; think of what that potato and the potato producer had to go through. The PCL Information Sheet IS02, published by the Potato Council, found here reports that 2012 was a year of contrasts with an early drought followed by low levels of sunlight and then high rainfall that leads to low yields and a late harvest. It was reported that 71% of the harvest was complete by the end of October. And with water, there always comes problems - the cost of the production of a potato has increased by 13% (over 2011) due to the increase in fungicide use and other chemicals.

To think that the potato, a vague relation of deadly nightshade, is attacked by 7 bacterial diseases including brown rot; 30 fungicidal diseases; 6 Nematode parasites; 3 Phytoplasmal diseases; 39 Viral and Viroid diseases; and 13 Miscellaneous diseases and disorders (source). It is a miracle of agriculture that it actually makes it to your plate.

Consumers are asked to save pig farmer's bacon

Earlier this month, there was growing concern about the forecast of the United States Department of Agriculture's maize production. A previous estimate, published by BPEX (on the 10th of August 2012) and the USDA, put it at 329 mega tonnes (329,000,000,000 kg) but it finally came in 274 mega tonnes. This will put pressure on other global areas to produce a surplus harvest. Combine this with the poor harvests in the Black Sea and northern Europe, it is reported by The Grocer (1st of August 2012) that the cost of feed has risen by 25%. 

Farmers are now losing £18 per pig they produce and The Grocer continues to report that some pig producers (10% of farmers that produce the UK's weekly pig production) will go out of business by Christmas (2012) as they cannot afford to feed their animals with the rising prices. This loss of 10% of the UK's weekly pig production would equate to a loss of 1.5 million rashers of bacon and 2.3 million sausages from British producers in the supermarkets and other stores. It should be noted that pork products with the Red Tractor logo conform to British Welfare Standards, whereas the potentially cheaper pork products from other countries may not have been kept to the same standards.

So what should the consumer do? By buying pork products that are either Red Tractor branded or have labeling that suggest that the product is created with British meat, you are stating to the supermarket or seller that you, as a consumer, are interested in only British products with British standards of welfare. The Grocer continues to report that:

"If supermarkets see a surge in demand for British products, they may be persuaded to pay our farmers the few extra pennies a kilo more they need to cover their soaring feed bill,” said the NPA’s general manager, Zoe Davies. "So we are asking shoppers, who have always been incredibly loyal in the past, to please be extra careful to look for the British Red Tractor logo on bacon, sausages and pork.”

Red Tractor Week is coming from the 24th to the 30th of September 2012 and will be highlighted in a future blog post.