Scientists solve Irish potato famine mystery

May 21, 2013

An international team of biologists have discovered the plant-pathogen strain that was the cause of the devastating 1840s Irish potato famine. The discovery was found after examining 170-year-old dried leaves from plants that were diseased during the potato famine.

“We have finally discovered the identity of the exact strain that caused all this havoc”, says Hernán Burbano from the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology.

The strain they call HERB-1 is believed to have caused the 19th century disaster. Ireland lost a quarter of its population to death or immigration between 1845 and1850. Until now, it was previously thought that US-1 strain was the culprit. The leaves have been collected for over 50 years from Ireland, the U.K., Europe and parts of North America.

The samples were preserved in London, by the Botanical State Collection Munich and Kew Gardens. The preservation allowed scientists to be able to decode the genomes of 11 samples from the potato leaves. According to the group of scientists, the DNA preservation in the leave samples were impressive.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.