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The Great Irish Famine in 1852 resulted in one million deaths and two million emigrations. The impact is still felt in Ireland, with 1.5 million fewer people living there than in 1840. The potato, a staple food, was affected by a pathogen called HERB-1, causing crop failure.
At the conclusion of the Great Irish Famine in 1852, that country’s toll was devastating: an estimated one million people had died and another two million had emigrated elsewhere, including Canada, the United States, and Australia. More than 150 years after a mysterious pathogen wiped out Irish potato crops, eliminating a major food source, the impact of the resulting famine can still be felt in Ireland. There are around 1.5 million fewer people now living in Ireland than when potato blight first struck in 1840.
Millions depended on the simple potato:
First domesticated in southern Peru and Bolivia more than 7,000 years ago, the potato became a staple in Ireland and other European countries after more crop failures limited what could be grown.
Irish tenant farmers struggled to grow enough food to feed their families on small plots of land. They turned to the potato for its ability to grow in even the worst soil.
In 2013, researchers concluded that a pathogen known as HERB-1 was responsible for the famine. The now-extinct strain attacked the plants, leaving behind shriveled, inedible tubers.
