New Mexicans are very proud of their chile peppers. It’s the official state vegetable and the peppers often act as an essential ingredient in everything from sauces and stews to chile rellenos. Chiles, both red and green, have been a part of New Mexican culture for more than a century, and now officials with the state Department of Agriculture are hoping to share the love. But doing so has come with a few challenges.
It’s harvest season in the Land of Enchantment right now, which means for the next few weeks, industrial-scale pepper roasters will be out in full force around the state. If you're from New Mexico, you know what it sounds and smells like as these green chiles roast. That crackling sound as their skins char under the intense heat of an propane-fueled flame and the spicy scents that follow are almost iconic here.
Through a program called “Get Your Fix” officials are now trying to convince people in other regions of the country why they, too, should choose the New Mexico chile pepper over a pepper grown somewhere else.
"What chile is, first of all, point to how we use it in New Mexico and how they can use it in some of their local fare," said Katie Goetz, a spokesperson for the New Mexico Department of Agriculture.
She explained the goal is to increase demand and brand awareness for the green chile in particular, much like Florida has done for its orange crop. But it’s not an easy task. In 2014 New Mexican farmers planted just under 8,000 acres of chiles, which was a 43-year low.
Drought has played some role in the decline, but Dino Cervantes, the president of the New Mexico Chile Association, said the real issue is the availability of labor.
"We need more product, we can grow more product but we can’t find the people to harvest it," Cervantes said.
This labor shortage is an industry-wide issue. Census data show the number of farm workers in New Mexico has dropped by about 5 percent since 2002. And nationwide the number of hired farm workers shrank from about 3.4 million to just about 1 million over the last century.
Cervantes said part of that has to do with the fact that young people aren’t seeking jobs in agriculture at the rates they used to, going instead to bigger cities for careers in tourism and entertainment. He added immigration policies haven’t helped either.
"We started noticing that we had a problem in the late 80s and early 90s," Cervantes said. "And as the industry has grown more and more and peppers have become more popular, it’s become a bigger and bigger issue."
New Mexico is losing market share to other chile-producing countries like Mexico and India. Today about 80 percent of chile peppers on store shelves in this country are imported. But Cervantes is still optimistic about the New Mexico chile’s future, as new harvesting and de-stemming machines are beginning to show some promising results.
Like the Etgar Moses 1010 One Row Chile Picker, for example. In a recent test, this harvester made quick work of a row of peppers with relatively little damage. In just a few seconds a pepper makes the trip from the plant to a collection bucket through two spiral tubes.
"I’m very please with how this worked," said Stephanie Walker, a vegetable specialist at New Mexico State University.
Walker explained while the New Mexico red chile has been mechanically harvested for about a decade, doing so with the green chile has been a bit trickier. Its flesh is more delicate. To avoid the potential for damage, farmers traditionally have had to hand harvest it at a very specific time.
"The growers put a lot of money in up front to get to that point where they have a crop ready to be harvested," Walker said. "And if you can’t harvest it within that peak window it’s going to quickly turn red and you’re going to lose it."
She said the green chile’s vulnerabilities are partly responsible for the loss of acreage as many farmers have been opting to grow a less labor-intensive crop like cotton or alfalfa. But Walker explained with innovations like these, acreage could begin to rebound.
"So it helps level the playing field with countries that may have very large low-paid labor forces," she said.
And with that more level playing field, the NMDA hopes this New Mexican staple can finally command a larger place on grocery store shelves across the country.
