Abstract:
Potato and its derivatives increasingly become globally traded products.
Commercial companies more and more want to quantify the environmental
footprints such as the efficiency of the use of land and water, greenhouse gas
emissions, and the risks of eutrophication and contamination of the environment
with pesticides. From various sources, global maps with grid cells of circa
8,600 ha (near the equator) were drawn representing potato-harvested area,
potato fresh tuber yield (land use efficiency), slopes (risks of erosion), precipitation
deficit (risks of depletion of fresh water resources through irrigation), and
average daily maximum temperature throughout the season (risks of occurrence
of pest epidemics and emission of pesticides). Hotspots for erosion are the slopes
of the mountains in the Andes, African Rift, Southern China and volcanic areas
in southern China, and the island countries in Southeast Asia. Fresh water
availability may become limited in the East of North America, northern India,
and China. Risks of insects are increased in continental hot summer climates and
short spring crops with high temperatures towards harvest. Late blight is a threat
in all humid areas such as maritime Europe, equatorial tropical highlands, and
the humid western Pacific Ring. The examples discussed in this paper can be
elaborated for more soil and weather-related factors such as acidity and salinity
and heat waves or torrential rains. Sustainable long-term and long-range sourcing
is deliberated as well as repercussions of trends such as globalization and climate
change; the latter being relative favorable for the root and tuber crop potato
compared to grain crops.
