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New Mexico's green chili harvest under wayALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP)--The metal roasters turn slowly, roaring and crackling as the air is filled with a sweet, pungent aroma. It means only one thing--New Mexico's green chili harvest is under way and the crop will be a solid showing despite heavy rains last month. "It looks to be a real good harvest. There is no delay in the harvest and there was no substantial damage to the crop with the recent rains," said Stephanie Walker, extension vegetable specialist with New Mexico State University. "Growers have seen this before. They know what they have to do to keep from losing fields." Extra moisture from the monsoons and Hurricane Dolly hit areas of southern New Mexico in July, making more than a few chili farmers weary. Too much water can cause chili wilt disease, killing the plant's roots. Last year, yields were reduced 30 percent in some areas from disease. New Mexico's harvested chili acreage in 2007 was 11,000 acres and chili production declined for the third year in a row to 49,000 tons. Though this year's harvest looks hopeful, farmers have increased prices to counter rising production costs, said Terry Crawford, professor of agriculture business and economics at NMSU. "Our farmers are being squeezed from energy, petroleum and labor costs. They're barely going to offset costs due to oil," Crawford said. "It ain't better this year than last year because costs are worse." Gene Baca, vice president of Albuquerque's Bueno Foods and president of the New Mexico Chile Association, said acreage could be down this year since many farmers have stopped growing chili or reduced their acreage. Hatch chili farmer Jimmy Lytle has lost at least a quarter of his crop to the heavy rains. He said he knows other farmers are "quitting the high-risk crops" but he plans to stick with it. "We had over 11 inches of rain in 14 days. The fields are starting to dry out now with the hot, dry days but damage that rain causes doesn't show up for weeks," said Lytle, who will begin harvesting next week. "The crop that's going to suffer is red (chili). Farmers are going to pick green and not let it go to red because you make more money per acre with green." Las Uvas Valley farmer Dale Shiflett won't have a chance to make any money off of this year's chili crop. Rain in early July wiped out his entire 60-acre crop along with chili fields at three other farms in the area. "We don't get rain for a whole year and then we get 8 inches in two days. This is the worst it's ever been," said Shiflett, who has farmed in the Las Uvas Valley for about 20 years. Facing the loss, Shiflett is raising the white flag. "I'm not growing chili next year. It's not worth it, and I can't get enough help to get it harvested," he said. Ricardo Alatriste was busy sorting Hatch chili into bins and operating the roasters at the Chile Traditions stand on Friday while customers waited for their bags of chili to finish roasting. Alatriste said business has been a little slow but he expects things to pick up as the harvest progresses. The harvest typically runs from August to October. "This is the first pick, so (the chili's) coming in slow, 50-pound bags at a time. We'll have a steady shipment in a week," Alatriste said. Customer Elizabeth Ortega said she was in desperate need for chili as she walked away with a 40-pound bag of the roasted peppers and a smile on her face. "I just ran out of chili and I was praying I could find more now," she said. "It's like gold around here." 8/11/08 Date: 8/7/08 Advertisement
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