Irish Lumper
The Irish Lumper is a varietal white potato of historic interest. It has been identified as the variety of potato whose widespread cultivation throughout Ireland, prior to the 1840s, is implicated in the Irish Great Famine in which an estimated one million died.
Agricultural features
The 'Irish Lumper' is noted for its ability to flourish on garden beds that are poor in nutrients, wet-footed, or both. Until the 1840s, it was closely adapted to growing conditions in Ireland, particularly western Ireland. The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of Ireland noted that the Lumper was a "very old variety, and... probably well known when first recorded by Dutton in his Agricultural Survey of County Clare.... It was described by Andrews as a 'coarse species' and was recommended by Howden as stock feed due to its enormous yield."In the 1840s, infestations of Phytophthora infestans devastated a series of potato harvests, leading to widespread famine and emigration. The cumulative effects of both catastrophes, exacerbated by British rule, lowered Ireland's total population by approximately two million, of which approximately one million were fatalities.
After almost disappearing from cultivation, the 'Irish Lumper' was regrown, starting in 2008, by Michael McKillop of County Antrim for harvest sale as an heirloom variety.