American Agriculture History Minute: Different Strains of Plants Developed

I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute.

Luther Burbank is part of American agriculture history. Despite receiving only an elementary education, he developed more than 800 strains in varieties of plants, including 113 varieties of plums and prunes, 10 varieties of berries, 50 varieties of lilies, but he’s best known for improving the common Irish potato. His potato was introduced in the United States in 1871, later nicknamed the Idaho potato. He sold his right to that potato for $150 then, enough to travel to Santa Rosa, California where he took up new residency.

That’s today’s American Agriculture History Minute. I’m Mark Oppold. Thanks for reading. I’ll see you next time.