Free Republic

(Last Updated On: March 24, 2023) If you like your spuds, National Tater Day on March 31st is for you! The day recognizes all kinds of potatoes which provide us with essential vitamins, minerals, and fiber. #NationalTaterDay Potatoes are quite versatile, which might explain why so many people like them. They are the number one consumed vegetable in the United States. And when you consider how many ways we can eat the over 200 different kinds of potatoes in the United States, you shouldn’t be surprised. First off, we can bake them. Who doesn’t like a baked potato? Yeah, we...

<p>It sounds harmless, silly even. But for residents of the Belhaven neighborhood in Jackson, Mississippi, it's becoming something of a serious concern: Bowls of mashed potatoes are showing up everywhere and no one knows where they are coming from, reported the Washington Post.</p>

A potato genetically modified to resist the fungus which caused the devastating Irish potato famine of 1845 has been developed by British scientists. Late blight, caused by the organism Phytophthora infestans, remains the potato farmer’s greatest enemy to this day. Each year UK farmers spend around £60 million keeping the infection at bay with pesticides. In a bad year, losses and control measures combined can account for half the total cost of growing potatoes. …