(29 Jun 2003)

Huancavelica - 4 June, 2003
1. Wide shot of farmers starting potato harvesting season
2. Mid shot farmers removing soil, pulling potatoes out
3. Mid shot of farmers harvesting potatoes

Lima - 5 June, 2003
4. Cutaway of Carlos Ochoa
5. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Carlos Ochoa, Agricultural Engineer, and Potato Specialist:
"The source of the harvested potatoes around the world comes from Peru. How ignorant can it be to believe that the potatoes come from Ireland? That's crazy."
6. Close up cover of book written by Carlos Ochoa on potatoes
7. Zoom out from book
8. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Carlos Ochoa, Agricultural Engineer, and Potato Specialist:
"We have spoken about wild potatoes already, but regarding harvested potatoes there are nine species, there isn't just one type. Of those nine species the whole nine are cultivated and found in the Peruvian Andes."

Huancavelica - 4 June, 2003
9. Mid shot of woman harvesting potatoes
10. Mid shot of farmers harvesting potatoes
11. More of farmers
12. Close up of farmer eating potatoes
13. Wide shot of farmers gathered eating potatoes
14. Close up of potato sack
15. Mid shot of farmer carrying sack of potatoes
16. Wide shot of potato sacks

STORYLINE:

It's a common misunderstanding that the white potatoes we eat today came from Ireland.

But it was in Peru that people cultivated the earliest forms of potatoes more than four thousand years ago.

Scientific and archaeological evidence shows wild potatoes were present in the Peruvian plateau and mountainous regions, where it was too cold for wheat or corn to grow.

The pre-Columbine cultures of The Mochia, Chimu, and Inca developed frost-resistant varieties of potatoes from wild tubers, which they named "papa", a product cultivated as a key part of their primarily vegetarian diet.

The potato provided a staple source of nutrition, plus they were easily stored and transported.

Most of all, though, they were resilient in the region's harsh climate.

Not until the late 1530s did Europeans come into contact with the potato.

According to historians, the first potato made its way across the Atlantic in around 1570 after the Conquistadors tramped through Peru earlier in the century.

In the Spanish colonies, potatoes were considered food for the underclasses - the reason why the Spanish put it to limited use, although they understood the productive and hardy characteristics of the potato.

While the potato gained acceptance in Ireland from the bottom up, in France, it was promoted by an intellectual.

Antoine Augustine Parmentier saw the nutritional benefits of the crop combined with its productive capacity as a potential boon to the French farmer.

For indigenous South American peoples, the potato still plays an important part their daily lives and culture.

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