Carbon potato footprint.

"We appreciate folks' concerns, and we're also conscientious of the environment, so we want to do what's right for the environment and the community.”

"The real thing is called a Lenco Self-Propelled 'Airhead' Potato Harvester…"

"...and it’s about 60 feet long, capable of pulling a dozen rows of potatoes from the ground at once and then sifting dirt away from the potatoes and dumping the dirt back in the field. It can fill a truck with more than 38,000 pounds of potatoes in minutes, comes with a price tag of nearly three-quarters of a million dollars, and only about 78 are being used in the state."

(photo source)

Mushed potato.

TAR-JAY shoppers Targeted...

…by KAR-TOE-SHA.

"Wielding a piece of malware called ‘potato’ in Russian, Eastern European hackers stormed past the digital firewalls of Target and six other retailers to steal credit cards belonging to a quarter of the US population."

ADDED: Tibore, the commenter, has more.

Potato red line.

“The product has been spotted in several places and I would like to know how those in charge of monitoring the import of foreign products allowed it into the country,” he said. However, Abdul Aziz Al Samhan, the head of the Cooperative Societies Union, has denied the existence of any Israeli products in Kuwait’s cooperatives. “This is definitely a red line that no one is allowed to cross under any name,” he said in a statement.

Is Obama being a dic-tater?

"'That should be dictated by science,' Greenaway said. The potato industry says it has science on its side. Mark Szymanski of the National Potato Council points out that the USDA’s own dietary guidelines issued in 2010 recommend consumption of starchy vegetables. He says a potato provides potassium, dietary fiber and folate that can be helpful for pregnant women and is also economical, which could help low-income mothers stretch their dollars."

Labra-tato

Zeus on Lake Mendota @-2F

St. Ber-tato

Abby @-13F

Mr. Potato

 Dr. John S. Niederhauser (1916–2005) 

[I]nternationally renowned scientist and adjunct professor of pathology in the UA College of Agriculture from 1985-2005, was awarded the World Food Prize in 1990 for his leadership in developing potato varieties resistant to disease and fostering international cooperation to improve the world's food supply and alleviate hunger and malnutrition. Known as "Mr. Potato," his work impacted agricultural production in more than 60 countries.

One of Niederhauser's most important scientific contributions was the development of potato varieties with resistance to late blight disease, caused by the fungal pathogen Phytopthora infestans. This pathogen was responsible for many potato disease outbreaks around the world, including the Irish potato famine during the 1840s.During his research, Niederhauser discovered that the source of the pathogen responsible for the Irish potato famine came from Mexico. More importantly, he discovered many wild inedible potato species in Mexico that possessed a durable field resistance to the late blight fungus. He began breeding work using these resistant lines which resulted in a collection of commercially useful resistant potato varieties. These new varieties allowed subsistence farmers around the world to be able to grow potatoes for the first time with few or no chemical fungicide applications.Niederhauser's work resulted in the establishment of the potato as the fourth major food crop worldwide. As a result of this work, potato production in Mexico increased from 134,000 metric tons in 1948 to greater than 1 million metric tons by 1982. 

"Potato blight (or potato late blight) is caused by a mildewlike fungus called Phytophthora infestans that can infect the potato foliage and its tubers. Although P. infestans is best known as a pathogen of the potato, this fungus also attacks the tomato and a number of other plants belonging to the family Solanaceae …." 

from Potato Blight: An entry from Macmillan Reference USA's Macmillan Reference USA Science Library: Plant Sciences by John S. Niederhauser)

So... next time we're in SOHO...

Ho!

photo by Lauren Shockey

Travel advice from someone who knows...

her potatoes, 

"We stopped at a popular restaurant for a lunch of cepelinai -- shredded potatoes stuffed with meat, rolled into balls and then boiled -- and potato pancakes."

poodles,
and place in history.

"Red Dot worked closely with the University of Wisconsin's agricultural department to create the perfect potato for chips. The University continued to do research in this area after Red Dot folded and in 1990 introduced the Snowden potato, now considered the ultimate chipping potato."

The Wisconsin Historical Society has the story...  as Fred & Kathryne Meyer enter the Wisconsin Potato & Vegetable Growers Association Hall of Fame

"The 3-D spud warms below your very fingers and is all up in your olfactory grill."

Advertisers getting all up in your grill.  (Or grille, if you prefer.)

Fried mashed potatoes

Fry 'em up in a pan.

(Photo: Danny Kim. Illustrations by John Burgoyne.)

For chickenlittle (the commenter): Chickpea Potato Salad With Lemon-Garlic Dressing

A recipe.

The art of sculpted mashed potato

High, low, and middle.

She even out potato-blogs me

http://althouse.blogspot.com/2012/01/at-fingerling-cafe.html

Mashed-Potatoes

Creamy-Garlic recipe

photo credit: Jan Norris

Chaotic Andean potato diversity program

Going on for millennia:

"The result was chaotic diversity. Potatoes in one village at one altitude could look wildly unlike those a few miles away in another village at another altitude."

And chuño, the dried potato that fueled conquering Inca armies:

Credit: Eitan Abramovich / AFP / Getty Images

"Potato Wars: eye for an eye"

Instapundit links.

I mentioned the issue here.

Compassionate conservatives in action

Hoosier Potato Farmers Singlehandedly Produce And Donate Enough For 1/10th Of Those Needing U.S. Safety Net

file: Journal Gazette

Food Insecurity: 1 in 6 Americans Struggles to Buy Food

Bittman blogs basted potatoes

What could be simpler or more perfect?

Credit: Kerri Conan

Perfect for Yukon golds: Turn the oven to 400dg, using the convection roast setting if you’ve got one. Pour a thin film of olive oil into a rimmed baking sheet and sprinkle liberally with sea salt. Trim about 1 pound of potatoes, remove any icky spots, and cut them in half crosswise. Once the potatoes are in the pan, rub them all over in the oil, and put them cut side down. Roast, brushing with the salted oil every 15 minutes or so, until they release easily, 30 to 60 minutes, depending on their size.

Hey! Teacher! Leave our spuds alone!

Potater haters.

"Just like Magritte's picture of a pipe, a potato is not just a potato," says Romain Cools, head of Belgapom, the Belgian potato trade body. "You cannot compare bintje with other varieties."

The bintje, as you probably already know, is the world's most widely grown potato cultivar. But size, as it turns out, does indeed matter and demand for the smaller shorter bintje is... well, down.