Abstract: Potato is ranked as the world’s fourth major food crop after wheat, rice and maize, which is planted all over the world. Western society has rich experience of potato’s promotion. Clarifying the spread paths of potato in the world and analyzing the promotion measures of major countries could provide useful enlightenment and experience to the staple food development of potato in China. The authors looked up and sort data from literature about the spread and cultivation promotion of potato in major western countries, extracted the structural factors resulting in potato’s spreading all over the world and measured experiences promoted by countries. The results showed that: potato’s widespread depended upon three important aspects: firstly, potato had a biological characteristic of wide adaptability and high yield; secondly, some countries particularly in Europe took measures to expand potato planting for food security; thirdly, the popularization of science enhanced people’s nutrition awareness of potato and improved potato processing technology level. The analysis of beneficial experience from other countries will enlighten China to promote potato staple food industry, it should be based on potato’s biological characteristics of high economic efficiency, combing with measures such as political power at the national level and knowledge power in people.