Re:The curse of the potato
by dmckeon on Saturday April 30, 2016 @10:48AM
(#11601863)
Grain crops can be burned in the field by attackers,
as well as stolen. The WP article seems to overlook the
possibility of slavery in early cultures, which would
put social choices about crops into a vastly different
dynamic.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Slavery / undervalued labor is an interesting twist, as I imagine it would factor heavily into the value calculations.
The "more work (but still net positive food production)" vs "storage / transport" calculus seems like it would be interesting as different variables are changed. (Side note: I am not oblivious to the social evil we're talking about, but it is historically relevant)