NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – With the chile season officially starting, New Mexican’s may have already noticed that familiar aroma in the air. According to the New Mexico Chile Association, the crop is looking good, but this year also had its challenges.
That telltale smell lets New Mexicans know the chile season has officially begun. “These rains have helped us quite a bit kind of accelerate it. We’re probably about a week ahead of where we were at last year,” said Edward Ogaz, who farms chile in southern New Mexico.
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Ogaz is also the president of the New Mexico Chile Association. Although the association said the state’s chile crop looks good, farmers ran into some extra challenges this year. Those include labor issues, a hit-or-miss monsoon season, and irrigation uncertainties. “Water’s an everyday problem because we’ve got small amounts coming down from Colorado in the Rio Grande,” said Ogaz.
That’s why farmers like Jimmy Wagner of Big Jim Farms in Albuquerque’s North Valley are turning to drip systems, especially as the Rio Grande ran dry this summer with little to no water for irrigation. The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District told KRQE in July that it’s due to below-average snowpack and the compact promising water to Texas. “They turned off the water like a month ago, so it was like, what are we going to do? So, we have a drip system that waters it by itself,” said Wagner.
Wagner said his farm is starting to harvest, and the chile is abundant and flavorful. “When it’s dry and hot like this, you get a lot of flavor and it’s hotter,” added Wagner.
The New Mexico Chile Association said they don’t expect a shortage of chile this year. “I think we’re probably going to have an average year as far as volumes concerned, maybe a little bit above average. I think our quality is good all the way through,” said Ogaz.
However, with this year’s challenges and rising supply costs, they expect chile could be more expensive. The association’s message to consumers is that New Mexico-grown chile is worth it. “Once we let chile creep in from Mexico, the price starts to cheapen. That’s why we’re so big in our chile association on this certified New Mexico chile because we have to protect what is ours,” said Ogaz.
The chile season in New Mexico typically starts in late July or early August and could last through early October.
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