In Michael Pollan’s, The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s Eye View of the World, the author explains and demonstrates how cultural and human desires have shaped selective pressures in various case studies of potatoes. In the reading, Pollan looked over 4 different potato case studies: the Andean, the Irish, the organic potato farmers, and the large scale farmers who grow genetically modified potatoes, to demonstrate how selective pressures and human ideals have greatly impacted the growth of popular spuds.
When beginning to go over the history of one of the most popular edible roots known to man, it's important to mention that the Andean Incas where the first to domesticate potatoes. Their harvesting methods are well known due to their success of
