Solutions In Front of Us

Potatoes have been grown by Indigenous women for nearly 10,000 years. They are super nutritious, especially sweet potatoes.  We in the industrialized world often think that solutions are always found in high-tech labs. But some are found in the humble potato patch! There are good reasons to learn about potatoes. Do you know that there is an entire park in Peru devoted to potatoes? As theme parks go, that’s an unusual focus. And, no, there are no rides with potato-shaped carts. Instead, it is an educational, ecological park. The Indigenous Quechua folk grow heritage varieties and thus preserve biodiversity. Potatoes were first domesticated in Peru, while sweet potatoes originally come from Ecuador. Ax mamma, the potato goddess of Incan mythology, was believed to watch over the soil health and ensure the growth of a healthy crop. 

Sweet Potatoes: not just for dinner

But as well as being tasty and nutritious, sweet potatoes have a part to play in fixing polluted, damaged soils. This is called phytoremediation, which simply means using plants to clean and restore contaminated soils. It is a common, widely available low-tech clean-up method. Sweet potatoes are hardy and can grow in soils with low fertility or heavy metal contamination. In fact, the sweet potato plants can absorb heavy metals like lead, cadmium, and arsenic from the soil. Of course, we don’t eat the potatoes from these crops, since they contain the pollutants removed from the soil. But after the mature plants are dug up, they can be disposed of safely.  It takes time to undo the damage, though. 

Versatile

Later, new crops can be planted in the same area. The humble sweet potato can make a contribution here as well. Growing sweet potatoes can help prevent soil erosion since they can function as a ground cover as well as a food crop. Their large root systems help stabilize the soil, and reduce water runoff, as well as improve soil structure. They are very helpful in loosening compacted soil. In addition, sweet potatoes add organic matter to the soil, improving soil fertility and microbial activity. The decomposing remains can help rebuild soil structure, and improve water retention in degraded and compacted soils.  

Sweet potatoes can grow even in poor soils. This resilience makes them a useful crop for areas where other plants might not thrive. Sweet potatoes can’t do the heavy lifting all on their lonesome, of course. But they can be combined with other plants to get the job done.