After potatoes became a prime food source, many societies became dependent on the tuber to feed their people. Failures in potato harvests impacted societies immensely and spurred mass migration. A well-known example was the Great Famine in Ireland (1840s) which forced millions to migrate to the United States.

Scarcity also caused revolt such as in the Amsterdam Potato Riot (1917), in which local women protested against the stockpiling of food supplies by attacking a ship full of potatoes.