Food prices are soaring worldwide, driven by fierce competition for reduced international supplies of wheat, maize and rice, and other agricultural commodities. As concern grows over the risk of food shortages and instability in dozens of low-income countries, global attention is turning to an age-old crop that could help ease the strain of food price inflation.
In response, the United Nations has designated 2008 as the Year of the Potato:
http://www.potato2008.org/en/index.html
