A potato priest (Norwegian: potetprest) is a Norwegian term used for priests in the 18th century who, partly following royal orders, encouraged the cultivation of potatoes in Norway.
[1] The term is also used for priests as equally interested in agriculture and practical matters as in preaching.
In order to use agricultural land at higher latitudes (such as the Nordic region), the Danish-Norwegian king and priests sought to promote potato cultivation, primarily because it had been determined that it provided large and relatively certain yields at such latitudes.
It was potato cultivation that was able to create immediate relief in the daily pursuit of life after 1814, not the constitution.
[3] Prominent examples of potato priests include Peder Harboe Hertzberg,[2] Abraham Pihl,[2] Jens Rynning,[4] and Jacob Nicolai Wilse.