Potatoes in Farmstead World — crop in the game, and what it is on a real farm.
The potato is a tuber, an underground stem that stores the plant’s energy, first farmed high in the Andes and carried around the world by sailors.
It yields more food per acre than almost any other staple, which is why it became a mainstay of northern kitchens.
Farm facts about potatoes
Potatoes were domesticated in the Andes roughly 7,000-10,000 years ago, near Lake Titicaca in what is now southern Peru and northwestern Bolivia. (en.wikipedia.org)
More than 5,000 potato varieties exist worldwide, and about 3,000 of them grow in the Andes alone - a single valley may hold over 100 of them. (en.wikipedia.org)
A potato tuber is not a root - it is a swollen underground stem, stuffed with the starch the plant saved up. (en.wikipedia.org)
Potato flowers give way to little green fruits that look like cherry tomatoes, each carrying about 300 tiny seeds - yet new potato crops usually start from planted tubers. (en.wikipedia.org)
Farmers plant 'seed potatoes' - whole tubers grown to be disease-free - instead of the plant's true seeds; in the US, only 15 cold-winter states produce them. (en.wikipedia.org)
In the UK, most seed potatoes come from Scotland, where westerly winds reduce the aphids that spread potato viruses. (en.wikipedia.org)