WEBVTT

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[sil.]

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[sil.]

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[non-English narration]

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[sil.]

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Much of mankind is fed from a little more
than just a handful of grains and vegetables.

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Half of the world\'s population survives
on rice, wheat, potatoes, and corn.

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The past few years have shown just how
vulnerable both humans and animals are

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to diseases such AIDS and mad cow disease.
To what extent our pests and diseases

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threatening the world\'s staple crops?
Just how safe is our food?

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[sil.]

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In order to search for answers to these questions, we trace
the story of the potato from its origins in the Andes

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to the plains of Idaho in the United States.
Our first stop is the Ayacucho region in Peru.

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[sil.]

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The (inaudible) Machaka family harvests their potatoes.
Their small field is situated at a height of

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over 4,000 meters. At these altitudes,
night frost is not uncommon.

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However, this year, El Niño brought
particularly low temperatures. In many fields,

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frosts and drought destroyed all the plants. Nevertheless,
the Machaka family has something to harvest.

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[non-English narration]

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[sil.]

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So (inaudible) and his brothers
harvest the red (inaudible) potato.

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Of the five varieties planted, the (inaudible) is
the only one to have survived the low temperatures.

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[non-English narration]

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Lorenzo explains to us the traditional ways of
coping with the ups and downs of the climate.

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[sil.]

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[sil.]

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We follow Lorenzo down the valley. Many of his neighbors
weren\'t as lucky as he was with their harvest.

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Unlike Lorenzo, who planted the red
(inaudible) potatoes, they planted the new,

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high-yielding varieties that were
part of the green revolution.

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In the village, we meet Alberta
and Malizio (inaudible).

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[non-English narration]

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The green revolution began
in Peru in the 1960s

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when development aid projects introduced
seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides

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to even the most remote villages. Like
many other families, Alberta and Malizio

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were soon planting only the high
yielding potatoes. More often than not,

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they fell victim to pests and diseases.

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[sil.]

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We travel with a Machaka family
to the weekly market in Tambo,

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a small town in the province of Ayacucho. The
Machakas regularly visit this and other markets

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to keep a lookout for traditional potato
varieties. They\'re planning to give these potatoes

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to families in their home village, Quispillaccta,
who no longer have any of the traditional potatoes.

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[music]

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By selling those down, the exact origin and properties
of each potato. After the bitter experience of El Niño,

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she and her sister, (inaudible) Magda, are on the
lookout for particularly frost-resistant varieties.

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El Niño\'s predicted to bring
drought and frost again this year.

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[non-English narration]

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(inaudible) Magda and Masella often find it difficult to get
hold of the native potato varieties. As the woman in Tambo

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are reluctant to part with them. Seed
potatoes are treated like family members.

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At best, they\'re spread among
friends and relatives.

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[sil.]

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The people of the Andes have raised more
than 5,000 different potato varieties.

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In every village, each family has
their own, and it\'s this diversity

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that serves as the basis for the
traditional agricultural system.

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The western style, modernization of agriculture,
increasingly replaces the diversity of local crops

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with just a handful of so called high yield
varieties. Where as the campesinos had

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hope for more bountiful harvest. They often
found that the Green Revolution potatoes

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presented the threat of total loss of the
crop and food shortages. The new varieties

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proved to be highly vulnerable to the rigors of
the harsh mountain weather, pests, and diseases.

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[sil.]

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Twice a week, Magda goes to Ayacucho

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where she hosts a radio show
about agriculture and nutrition.

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The program is called radio
(inaudible), the seed radio.

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[sil.]

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Ayacucho is the capital of the province of the same
name. It\'s one of the poorest provinces in Peru.

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Few of the villagers are literate, with little
access to newspapers, books, or television.

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So radio is the only means of communicating
to those living in the remote areas.

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On the seed radio, Magda talks about
the Green Revolution, pests problems,

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and the importance of crop diversity. The program is
broadcast in Quechua, the region\'s native language.

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[sil.]

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Today, Magda announces the seed
market that will take place

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in Quispillaccta after the harvest.

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[music]

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[sil.]

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The valley of Pampamarca, about 60 miles
south of Ayacucho, even in an average year,

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it doesn\'t rain much in this region. In an El
Niño year, the drought will last many months.

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As a result, people can only find water in grazing
land for the animals in very few valleys.

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[sil.]

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(inaudible) and the other
families in the village

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make a living from their animals
and farming the barren land.

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[sil.]

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This is the last year (inaudible)
will tend to her animals.

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The green valley would be
immersed by reservoir.

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[sil.]

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[sil.]

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The dam essential to a development
project intended to modernize

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the region\'s agriculture. A canal
currently under construction

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will direct the water to the lower lying
valleys in the (inaudible) region.

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There, potatoes for the capital city of Lima are
grown on large trucks of land. In the future,

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the water from the highland will
allow for two harvests a year.

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[sil.]

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[music]

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[non-English narration]

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It\'s 6 am in the (inaudible)
of (inaudible),

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today is the start of the harvest. Jordi, the
foreman, makes a breakfast of cooked potatoes

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and sheep\'s milk cheese for everybody
before the workday starts.

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[sil.]

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Jordi works for a (inaudible) papero.
In the Highland,

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that\'s the name for the businessman who leased land
from the village communities in order to grow potatoes

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for the wholesale market in Lima.

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[sil.]

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The workers come from the neighboring villages. The land actually
belongs to them, but lacking the capital and contacts with wholesalers,

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they rent out their land and work
as laborers for the paperos.

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[sil.]

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Papero Pedro Rivero (inaudible) will make
a lot of money on his potatoes this year.

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Although El Niño\'s frost
destroyed potato harvest

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throughout the greater part of Peru, his
potato survived the frost and hale.

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Potatoes are in short supply of the wholesale
markets in Lima. So good quality, highland produce

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currently commands a premium price.

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[sil.]

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Although it takes almost two days for the truck to arrive
in Lima, it\'s still profitable for (inaudible) Pedro Rivera

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to farm in this remote region. The soil is
fertile, and the leasing rates are low,

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and he plays his workers
only a dollar a day.

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Potatoes are a risky business.

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The potatoes can make you a
millionaire, if the prices are high.

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But you can just as easily lose everything,

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if the weather isn\'t good
or the prices are low.

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[sil.]

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The potatoes picked here are not traditional potatoes.
They\'re the so-called high-yielding varieties

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which require large amounts of
fertilizers, pesticides, and water.

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The Green Revolution varieties are often far more
thirsty than their traditional counterparts.

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Their high dependency only survives to highten
the conflict over the scarcity of this resource

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in an arid region such as the Andes.

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[sil.]

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The campesnos lease their lands

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for three to five years. The papero\'s
plant potatoes on it year after year.

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Crop rotation doesn\'t normally take place resulting
in a dramatic rise in the number of pests

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which occur with each passing year.
Despite increased spraying,

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the pests cannot be controlled any longer.

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[sil.]

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We have left the highlands and are on our way to
Cañete. A river oasis in the Peruvian coastal desert.

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The city of (inaudible) with
its 10,000 inhabitants is

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situated about a 100 miles south of Peru\'s capital city,
Lima. (inaudible) is a supply center of the oasis.

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This is where the farmers
stock up on seeds,

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fertilizers, and pesticides. (inaudible) city
center is lying with about two dozen stores

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specializing in agricultural chemicals.
Their shelves are filled

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with the products of Western companies.

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[sil.]

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(inaudible) stopped growing potatoes 15 years ago. Since then,
he\'s been selling fertilizers and pesticides in his own shop.

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His business is doing well.

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[sil.]

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One of (inaudible) customer\'s
is the Castillo family.

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Father Masadonio and his son, Alberto,
came from Ayacucho 14 years ago.

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They have been growing potatoes for the
wholesale market in Lima ever since.

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The Castillos have a problem, the
potato fly threatens their crop.

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[sil.]

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El Niño brought unusually warm weather to the
coast which resulted in massive fly reproduction.

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Despite heavy spraying, the Castillos
are unable to control the pests.

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Alberto and Masadonio now have
to spray every three days.

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At the edge of the field, they mix pesticide cocktails from
(inaudible) store in the hope of saving their harvest from the bugs.

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[sil.]

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It\'s really a bomb what
they\'re spraying over there.

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That\'s why the ecological
cycle has fallen apart.

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The environment is totally ruined.

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Self-regulation by useful
insects doesn\'t exist anymore.

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It\'s been lost with all that spraying.

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Even if Alberto and his
father managed to protect

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their potatoes from the flies,
the spraying remains a gamble.

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The chemicals are expensive, whether a small
profit can be made depends entirely on the dealers

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of the wholesale markets in Lima.

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[sil.]

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The Castillos just grow two
potato varieties on their fields.

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The types depend on the market in Lima
are only very few varieties are traded.

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Neither of the two varieties is resistant to the flies which
the Castillos have to fight with ever more poisonous,

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ever more expensive chemicals.
At the same time, their yields

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fall from year to year. The pesticides
have destroyed the fertility of the land.

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[sil.]

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Alberto fails to see the connection. The only thing that
matters to him is bringing his potatoes to harvest,

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but success is doubtful. This year, the fly
seemed to have become resistant to all chemicals.

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[music]

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[music]

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We\'re en route to Lima. About half of the city\'s six
million inhabitants already live in shanty towns.

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Countless families leave their home
villages in the provinces because

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they can\'t make a living off the land any longer.
This could also become the Castillos fate.

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There are futures in the hands of the dealers
at the capitals wholesale market for potatoes.

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[sil.]

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The (inaudible) is one of the
world\'s biggest potato markets.

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Most of the potatoes for Lima\'s inhabitants
are traded here. The buyers on this market

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are shopkeepers who run small vegetables in
one of the city\'s 10,000 street markets.

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[sil.]

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Not everybody can sell
potatoes at this market.

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The number of the lucrative market stands and thus
those of the wholesalers is limited to about 200.

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Even in a poor country like Peru, it
is possible to make a lot of money

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in the trade from staple foods. The
only prerequisite is a trade monopoly

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such as the one in place
at this whole sale market.

00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:58.000
[sil.]

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None of the potato varieties traded here belong
to the 5,000 traditional ones from the highlands.

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The wholesalers only accept about a dozen of the high-yield
varieties bred for Green Revolution agriculture.

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Monopolistic markets cause
monoculture in the fields.

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The smaller the number of
dealers who control the market,

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the smaller the number of varieties being
grown. This applies not only to potatoes.

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When we had enormous erosion of our
food crops over the last few decades,

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we\'ve also had an enormous erosion within those
crops, and that\'s far more serious. In fact,

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the genetic makeup of the varieties
that are the potatoes, that are wheat,

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that are the maize that the world depends upon has
narrowed phenomenaly in the last few decades.

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If you look at rice for
example, the world now,

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in Southeast Asia at least where rice
is the most important crop by far,

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we often find a year in which one
variety of rice occupies two-thirds

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and more of the land area that (inaudible)
into rice. And previously, like 20 years ago,

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we would\'ve had several thousand varieties.
In India where there is once

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almost 20,000 rice varieties of rice being grown,
but there are now perhaps a dozen varieties of rice

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that are central to the food
survival of rice eaters in India.

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From Peru, we travel to Idaho

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in the Northwest of the United States. This is the
most important potato growing region in North America.

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About one-third of all American
potatoes are grown here.

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It\'s industrial agriculture on an enormous
scale. Eighty percent of all potato fields

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grow just one variety, russet Burbank,
favored by the fast-food industry

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and supermarkets. About a dozen
factories in the Snake River Plain

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produce French fries for
fast-food restaurants.

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[sil.]

00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.999
In normal years, Idaho\'s climate is desert-like.
Potatoes grow only under irrigation,

00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.999
but this year, El Niño threw that delicate production system
off balance. Throughout the entire summer, it rained.

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And with it came, the potato late blight.
Over one million people starved

00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.999
when the fungus phytophthora infestans destroyed
the Irish potato fields in the 1840s.

00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:34.999
In Southeast Idaho, the potato
plight appeared this year

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for the very first time. Roger and his
neighbors were totally unprepared for it.

00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.999
[sil.]

00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.999
See, it\'s like a science fiction movie what we\'re
seeing this year. It just… It\'s unbelievable.

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Never in my wildest dreams would I believe
something like this would happen. I couldn\'t

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It\'s still unbelievable to me.
I can\'t believe it.

00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
[sil.]

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Aberdeen is a sleepy, little town in the middle of the potato growing
belt in Southeast Idaho. There\'s not much more than that main street,

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1,500 inhabitants, and five
potato fresh-packed sheds.

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You have to put it outside.

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Jim is the manager at Pleasant Valley
Potato. The company sorts potatoes

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according to grade and size. Only large potatoes
are lucrative for the farmers and packers.

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Jim concurrently command a
price of $19 per (inaudible)

00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.999
of US number one potatoes. The smaller,
lower grade spuds are only worth $5.

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That won\'t even cover the sorting cost,
let alone the farmer\'s production cost.

00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:53.000
[sil.]

00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
Jim sends the potatoes by train to San
Francisco, Chicago, and New York.

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The supermarkets and restaurants in the
big cities demand flawless produce

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which is why absolute homogeneity is
of the utmost importance when packing.

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Potatoes showing even the smallest
defects are immediately discarded.

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Only evenly shaped and more
importantly large-sized russets

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managed to make their way
onto their consumer\'s plate.

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If you get a stake and put
four small potatoes on it,

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us people from Idaho, walk
out of the restaurant.

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We don\'t want four little potatoes with the stake. We grow
big potatoes here, and we want a big potato on the plate.

00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.999
When we go to a restaurant, we expect
one nice, big potato next to our stake.

00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.999
We don\'t four little potatoes, or
red ones, or anything like that.

00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.999
We walk out of the restaurant
for less than that.

00:33:55.000 --> 00:34:03.000
[sil.]

00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
Curtis is a spud grower and an optimist.
His 225 acres of land

00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.999
had also been affected by the blight. He hopes
to be able to pull through until harvest time.

00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.999
But this year, the mutative strains of the fungus appeared
to have become resistant to every kind of chemical.

00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:33.000
[sil.]

00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.999
For Curtis, it\'s a matter
of economic survival.

00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.999
The potatoes belong to the bank. They were
planted on credit and are sprayed on credit.

00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:53.000
[sil.]

00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.999
See this dark color right there?

00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.999
That\'s the late blight invading their stem.
Eventually, that\'ll cut that right off.

00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:18.000
[sil.]

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
That\'s probably the biggest (inaudible) I\'ve got right now,
it\'s for the late blight. It\'s not the total devastation.

00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.999
It\'s just that, you know, we got so many
days to raise the crop of potatoes,

00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.999
and it\'s just that it\'s slowing
them down, holding them back

00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:39.999
where we can\'t get where we need to
be, or where we need to be size-wise.

00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.999
In the past, Curtis could have controlled
the blight with the substance Metalaxyl.

00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.999
Farmers around the world
rely on this one fungicide.

00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.999
Yet, over the years, mutated
Metalaxyl resistant strains

00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
of the fungus have emerged, a foreseeable
developed. The constant use of

00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
just one type of chemical inevitably
leads to the development of pests

00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
immune to that very substance.

00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.999
So we\'re dealing with a new strain
that\'s very difficult to control,

00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
and we\'re dealing with a change in the weather pattern
over the potato productionary in North America.

00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
And so I think those two things

00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.999
have just really kicked off the late blight
(inaudible) that we\'re dealing with now.

00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.999
And the fact we don\'t have any
resistance to help manage

00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:39.999
it has made the problem even more severe.

00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:48.000
[sil.]

00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:54.999
(inaudible) Fertilizers. Hey, Bran. Buddy.

00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:59.999
Hey, have you seen Al? I
didn\'t see his (inaudible).

00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.999
Okay, you don\'t know if at

00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.999
what time the spray guy will be here? All right. Let me ask
if he\'s there (inaudible). Curtis is trying to find out

00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.999
if the spraying service will still come today and
treat his fields. Due to the blight epidemic,

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.999
the dealers ran out of acid four weeks before
the harvest. The Agricultural Advisory Service

00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.999
had recommended that all potato fields be
treated with concentrated sulphuric acid

00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.999
to kill infectious spores in the soil.

00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.999
Okay, uh…was he going to pick up the chemicals
at the plant, or was Al bringing them out?

00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:39.999
It\'ll be either way, he can still come here to
the plant. He can take them with him then. Okay.

00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:44.999
(inaudible) Show him the
fields, I don\'t know.

00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.999
Okay, but 11:30? Yeah, that\'s what that I
think (inaudible) Let\'s plan it at 11:30.

00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
All right. All right. Thanks.
Talk to you later. Bye.

00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
[sil.]

00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.999
The russet Burbank variety is susceptible
to most diseases, equally many insects

00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.999
jump happily into this potato. Just as
aphids, potato beetles, and other vermin

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
prefer the russets, so do many fast-food
restaurants and supermarkets.

00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
That\'s why Idaho farmers have little choice but to
grow the favorite meal of their unloved competitors.

00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:24.999
Well, it\'s always a bigger problem

00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.999
if you\'re growing one or two,
relatively few susceptible varieties

00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.999
in a concentrated situation when a disease,

00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
particularly disease like late
blight, it can move much faster.

00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.999
And unfortunately,

00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:49.999
within the United States, we
have no alternative varieties.

00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
All our major varieties whether we\'re
looking at French fried processing,

00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
fresh market, the chipping industry,
they are all susceptible.

00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
[sil.]

00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.999
For weeks, Curtis has been going to
his field to dig potato samples.

00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.999
Are his spuds still healthy?
Even if there were varieties

00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.999
more resistant to the blight, he still
couldn\'t grow them as long as the main buyers

00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
on this highly concentrated market prefer russet
Burbank potatoes. So he and most of the other farmers

00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
will plant the russets again next spring.
But for much longer

00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
can the gamble on the monoculture go on?

00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
The clear negative danger we face is
climate change that as the climate

00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
adjusts itself in ways which we
don\'t we begin to understand yet,

00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
what we do know for sure is that the diseases that affect
our crops and the crops themselves will change with that.

00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.999
And if we don\'t have a genetic choices
available to us, then we will not be able to

00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.999
take advantage of that or even survive that. And
that\'s the tremendous risk that we are facing,

00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.999
and it can\'t be exaggerated.

00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.999
The spraying service has arrived.
Curtis has to stand far back.

00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.999
The acid isn\'t just unhealthy for the
blight, it can burn through clothes

00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:19.999
and shoes within seconds. Curtis
hopes that phytophthora\'s spores

00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:24.999
won\'t be able to withstand this treatment.
In the meantime, the only thing certain

00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.999
is that the acid will burn a
large whole in his wallet.

00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:34.999
And this is caused to grow over
from $150 to $250 an acre.

00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:39.999
This potatoes had to be sprayed
every five to seven days.

00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.999
This is a real tragedy. That\'s what\'s happening
to our Eastern Idaho and our potato growers.

00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
We\'re hoping that they can get
this crop into the storage

00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
with not carrying too many of the potatoes with
spores on them, so that the potatoes will not

00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:59.999
break down in the storage.

00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.999
The chemical dealer, Allen Little, is worried
about his customers. It wouldn\'t be good for him

00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.999
either if the blight put too
many of them out of business.

00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.999
We\'re just hoping and praise the good Lord that
we don\'t have a carry over into next year.

00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:19.999
If this potato market drops
from the $6 an now down to

00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:24.999
what our potato\'s growers got
a year ago which was a dollar

00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.999
that this will bankrupt
a lot of our farmers.

00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:38.000
[sil.]

00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.999
As of last… What was today? Tenth,

00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.999
as of the eighth of September,
we were probably at

00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:54.999
an extra $30,000 for blight sprays,

00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.999
for the application, more than we would
on a normal year. So by the time we\'re

00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.999
time were dying, we\'re probably going
to be, you know, probably close

00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:09.999
to another $40,000 more spent on that 225
acres than we would on a normal year.

00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:18.000
[sil.]

00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.999
Curtis\' neighbor Brad started harvesting today. The
potatoes have been separated from stones and dirt.

00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:34.999
Like most other farmers, Brad and Curtis, don\'t
sell all of their spuds right after harvest.

00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:39.999
They hope that prices will rise by the
time winter or even spring arise.

00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:48.000
[sil.]

00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:09.999
Curtis and Brad will only know by spring
time if the proceeds are sufficient

00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:14.999
to cover their debts with the bank, and if they can get
the credit necessary for planting next year\'s potatoes.

00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:19.999
.Months of waiting lie ahead. They have
no idea whether all those chemicals

00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:24.999
had much impact on the late blight disease.

00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:29.999
You know, I think the biggest
factor is still the weather,

00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:34.999
and if the weather affects it more
than anything we could put on it,

00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:39.999
and once the weather straightened up, I think everybody
would have pretty good luck with whatever they used.

00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:44.999
As long as the weather was
rainy, and cold, and humid,

00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:53.000
it seemed like no matter what you put on, you just didn\'t get real
good results. You know, it slowed it down but it didn\'t stop it.

00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:59.999
[sil.]

00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:04.999
For months to come, potatoes are stored

00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:09.999
in huge warehouses which can hold
200,000 hundredweights each.

00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:14.999
[sil.]

00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:19.999
Russets can be stored for a whole year.

00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:24.999
An unusually long period of time. That\'s
the main reason for their monoculture

00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:29.999
on Idaho\'s fields. Most other varieties
won\'t keep longer than nine months.

00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:34.999
But the French fries industry wants to
keep it\'s plants running all year long.

00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:39.999
This year, the blight will determine
whether or not the gamble paid off.

00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:44.999
Phytophthora could still destroy
the potatoes in the warehouse.

00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:49.999
This large warehouses you have,
40 different growers coming

00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:54.999
and putting their potatoes, if one of them, just one
has blight in their potatoes, it\'s going to happen

00:44:55.000 --> 00:44:59.999
because they\'re all being mixed.
Sounds pretty scary.

00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.999
I see why you\'re nervous.

00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:09.999
The new strains are coming
out year by year by year,

00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:14.999
and the chemicals aren\'t
going to control them, so

00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:19.999
that\'s something you have to look
to in the future. Can you hold on?

00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:24.999
Can the chemicals going to be there
to control this stuff? I don\'t know.

00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:29.999
If you think you\'re immune to not getting it,
look out because that\'s where we were at.

00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:34.999
We thought it never hit this country because of our
climate, and we thought we had too dry climate,

00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:39.999
this year comes in, we get high
humidity, rainstorms, thunderstorms,

00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:44.999
they come in and totally hit everything within
hundreds and hundreds of miles over here

00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:49.999
in a matter of a week, two weeks?

00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:54.999
And we look at next year, you know,

00:45:55.000 --> 00:45:59.999
our seed producing areas,
they\'ve all got this too.

00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:04.999
So well, we have seed to grow them next year.
You know, maybe we should take a lesson

00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:09.999
from the Irish man, you know,
we\'ve seen what happened there.

00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:14.999
Maybe we\'re going to be take more
drastic measures, I don\'t know.

00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:19.999
Only time will tell if
we do right or wrong.

00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:24.999
Well, I think the first thing
we have to recognize is

00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:29.999
what we are losing here that we\'re losing
knowledge, we\'re losing options here.

00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:34.999
I think it\'s quite also
true that our generation

00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:39.999
is the first generation in the history of the world that\'s
actually going to lose more knowledge than it gains.

00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:44.999
I mean what the companies are
giving us are hybrid varieties and

00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:49.999
uh…very short term technologies

00:46:50.000 --> 00:46:54.999
which may or may not be helpful to us.

00:46:55.000 --> 00:46:59.999
What we\'re losing is the genetic reservoir that
we\'ve built up through farmers for 12,000 years.

00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:04.999
We\'re losing the farmers, as the
innovators, and we\'re losing

00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:09.999
the genetic material to work with. And we\'ve got
to recognize how dangerous that is for us all.

00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:14.999
We\'ve never had the destruction
like we are now seeing around us.

00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:23.000
[sil.]

00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:34.999
We have gone back to the Andes to join the people of
Quispillaccta for Thanksgiving Day. To celebrate,

00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:39.999
the Machaka family has organized an
exhibition of tradition of potatoes.

00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:48.000
[sil.]

00:47:55.000 --> 00:48:03.000
[music]

00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:14.999
In the villages, news has spread that many of the
old varieties that were believed to be long gone

00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:19.999
can be obtained here. People
traveled from far and wide

00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:24.999
to show their potatoes and to get to know those of
other growers. Lorenzo and the rest of the family,

00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:29.999
wearing the green t-shirts of their organization,
are busy questioning the participants

00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:34.999
about their potatoes. At what altitude do
they grow? Can they withstand heavy frost?

00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:39.999
How well can they survive a drought?
Are they resistant to pests?

00:48:40.000 --> 00:48:48.000
[non-English narration]

00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:28.000
[sil.]

00:49:35.000 --> 00:49:39.999
Nearby, the woman are showing the kinds of dishes
that can be made from the different potatoes.

00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:48.000
[non-English narration]

00:50:45.000 --> 00:50:49.999
[non-English narration]

00:50:50.000 --> 00:50:54.999
Marsella and the people of Quispillaccta

00:50:55.000 --> 00:50:59.999
are proud of their potatoes. They know
that not everything development aid brings

00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:04.999
from the wealthy North is superior
to their traditions and way of life.

00:51:05.000 --> 00:51:09.999
It\'s this new self-confidence that they
want to pass on to their children.

00:51:10.000 --> 00:51:18.000
[sil.]