The potato: no longer humble

The United Nations has declared 2008 the International Year of the Potato.

“The celebration of the International Year of the Potato will raise awareness of the importance of the potato – and of agriculture in general – in addressing issues of global concern, including hunger, poverty and threats to the environment.”

People are being encouraged to help promote it, with this caveat:

“Please note that the logo cannot be used to promote deep-fried potato products.”

So, there’ll be no French fries or hash browns with that, thank you. (In the US, French fries, potato chips and things like Tater Tots account for 61% of the country’s 23 million ton annual potato crop.)

Official International Year of the Potato site here.

For the record, the UN has also declared 2008 the International Year of Planet Earth, International Year of Languages and International Year of Sanitation. The EU has declared it European Year of Intercultural Dialogue, while here it will be Australian Year of the Scout.