What are the larger social-cultural, political, and/or economic factors that influenced why people chose to grow potatoes and how the potatoes were grown?

First and most importantly, make sure you pay attention to the role of variation (or lack of it) in each case study. This is the key ingredient for natural selection to work.
For EACH of the cultural case studies (the Incas, the Irish, the organic farmer, and the conventional/GMO potato farmer), pay attention to and take notes on the following as you read:
How does the physical environment/landscape influence the way potatoes are grown? What challenges did the Andeans, the Irish, the organic & the large scale conventional farmers face from the environment?
What are the larger social-cultural, political, and/or economic factors that influenced why people chose to grow potatoes and how the potatoes were grown? These need to be very carefully considered in each case.
In the historical cases, the focus is on the immediate need to provide food. In the contemporary cases, there are important “market” forces and “consumer demands” that are at work.
In what ways is natural selection either promoted or prevented by the way the potato growers plant potatoes? In other words, can/does the selection process take place? If so, why? If not, why not?
What are the similarities and differences between the four cultural case studies? Which ones are similar and in what ways are they similar?
What lessons can we learn from the historical case studies (the Andean and Irish) and how do they relate to the modern day case studies (the organic and conventional/GMO farmers)?
How does this chapter relate to other concepts/processes and issues you’ve learned about in this class, specifically, gene flow and genetic drift.

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