The monkey effect is unlikely to be true because a) it is paranormal, which lowers its prior probability a bit, and b) it has not even been observed, just interpreted into other peoples' papers.
Also, the habit of washing potatos is more something you discover/learn than something you do or don't depending on your peers' opinions (which seems to be a modeling assumption of the physicists).
I was thinking if you create a few strong monkeys this could work. If this monkey effect is true then it has got applications.