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Reports from the New Mexico Chile Conference 2000
By David G. Jackson
The Many Challenges in Growing Chile in Colombia
Chile Gardeners Alert: Cross Country Nurseries is Here to Help
The 15th Biennial National Pepper Conference will be held in Lafayette, Louisiana
There was a sense of urgency at the annual New Mexico Chile Conference held in Las Cruces in early February. Growers, processors, implement manufactures, agriculture scientists, and students gathered to exchange ideas and information on how to improve the current status of the industry in New Mexico.
And the status of the agricultural end of the chile business is not good. What started out as backyard gardens at the end of the nineteenth century changed into larger family farms. Now at the beginning of a new millennium, the trend is going to international agribusiness. The products range from everyday spices to haute cuisine condiments to industrial chemicals and food coloring.
The problems with the domestic chile industry haven’t improved much in the past year. A windy spring and stormy summer, plus insect-transmitted diseases made for a generally poor crop in New Mexico and other states. More and more chile of all varieties is being grown in Central and South American countries. Processors are importing more chile and many growers blame NAFTA, the World Trade Organization, and the agricultural economy in general. Labor problems persist. Disease and insects continue to be problems. The acreage devoted to growing chile is down again and will probably continue to decrease--at least in the near future.
Rich Phillips of New Mexico State University Agriculture Experiment Station, who has managed the Fabian Garcia Science Center, worked on projects in Tierra del Fuego, and on many other programs during the past fifteen years, put it this way to me: "The bottom line is that unless we make some dramatic changes in the next five to seven years, we will lose the chile industry in New Mexico--and other states as well. Not only will farmers go to other crops, but the chile processors will move south of the border closer to the crops."
To meet this challenge, NMSU formed the New Mexico Chile Pepper Task Force with sponsors including the New Mexico Chile Commodity Commission, New Mexico and regional chile processors and growers, New Mexico Department of Agriculture, several USDA organizations, and several NMSU departments. "The Chile Pepper Task Force aims to identify and implement ways to keep chile pepper production profitable in New Mexico, and to maintain and enhance the research and development partnership between the New Mexico Chile Industry and New Mexico State University," said Phillips.
Well, nobody said it was going to be easy. The task force is broken down into three working groups:
Best Management Practice. Some farmers are very successful, some less so. What are the management practices that really make the difference? The main effort of this group is to document New Mexico chile farming and production practices; compile current information on best management practices; identify priorities for research and technology transfer; and develop needed resources to improve farming methods and cultural practices. The ultimate product will be a handbook to be used for workshops in the chile growing areas of the state. Crop marketing also will be studied.
Drip Irrigation. The demand for water for municipal, industrial, and agricultural use is increasing yearly. The water resources are decreasing and there is great competition for these resources, particularly among the growing cities along the Rio Grande and Pecos Rivers. One of the most efficient ways to use water for agriculture is drip irrigation systems. Some chile farmers are currently using this system, but it is expensive-- particularly to install. The working group will evaluate the economies of converting from furrow to drip irrigation; develop guidelines for drip irrigation system design and management; develop crop management guidelines for production of chile on drip irrigation; conduct research in drip irrigation to maximize return on investment; provide leadership on water-rights issues and fiscal incentives for water conservation; and to develop drip irrigation workshops for chile farmers. The benefits include reducing the size of tractors, lower labor costs, better plant disease control, more efficient use of fertilizer, and increased yield with current allocation of water.
Mechanical Harvesting. Chile is a labor intensive crop. Many varieties must be harvested by hand, and labor is getting more difficult to find, train, and care for. Labor rules and constraints continue to increase. Currently, forty to sixty percent of a farmer’s production costs are associated with harvesting labor. This is one area that countries south of the border have the edge over U.S. growers (although labor costs are also increasing in many other countries). One answer may be mechanical harvesting which has saved many other agricultural crops such as tomatoes, cotton and corn. But chile offers some unique challenges. .
Not all varieties are amenable to mechanical harvesting. The equipment is expensive and doesn’t do a good of harvesting those varieties, such as jalapenos, that are more suited to this method. Extensive work is currently under way to develop mechanical harvesters and field tests are conducted periodically. The equipment is improving.
Current work being conducted by this working group is to develop cleaning equipment for mechanically harvested chile; breed chile varieties adapted to mechanical harvest; develop cultural practices for mechanically harvested chile; and conduct an economic analysis of mechanically harvested chile.
There are several worker issues to be solved. Many hand workers make a considerable portion of their living harvesting the crop, which is perishable and must be shipped on a timely basis. There are concerns about worker protection and displacement. Additional work must be done to develop cultivars that can be mechanically harvested economically. Problems include the high cost of purchasing and maintaining equipment. Also taken into consideration must be fixed economic costs that remain even in years where crops are poor do to a number of factors.
Like, we said, it isn’t going to be easy. But the New Mexico Chile Taskforce is hitting the problems head on, and they understand the urgency to find solutions to the many problems they face.
Tabasco is one of the great trade names of the world. The McIlhenny Company has manufactured the condiment for more than a century and currently sells products in more than 100 countries. The company has farming operations in several countries to meet the expanding demand for their products.
Harold G. (Took) Osborn is the new kid on the block as recently appointed manager of agricultural operations. A fifth generation member of the McIlhenny family, Osborn is responsible for providing the tabasco chiles and other products such as cayenne mash for the processing plant on world-famous Avery Island, Louisiana.
"We had to diversify our farming operations many years ago to assure that we had enough quality produce to meet our needs," he said. "But even with crops grown in Ecuador, Colombia, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Panama, we may have to expand to Belize and possibly Brazil and Africa to meet our needs."
McIlhenny Company contracts with the best growers and maintains tight control over the quality of the crops. "But we still have problems," said Osborn. "In the last couple of years tropical storms ruined many of our crops in Central America. Disease and insects hit our crops just like everyone else’s, and we have very strict regulation of insecticides and defoliants. We have also had problems with political unrest that has threatened our farming operations, although we have no current political problems."
It is difficult to raise tabasco peppers, which are quite susceptible to disease. They have even had problems on Avery Island, where tabasco peppers are raised for seed. For example, a recent varietal development, MC-003, is resistant to disease, but is not as hot and has poor color. Work is ongoing to develop improved varieties. Although the Panama Canal has stopped the spread of some disease, it is only a matter of time until that barrier is breached.
"All of our tabasco plants are hand harvested, which makes it difficult to grow domestically," Osborn said. "We are expanding our product line which includes the original, garlic, jalapeño and habanero sauces--with others being developed. Our marketing strategy is to encourage customers to get the Tabasco Sauce out of the cupboard and use it on a greater variety of foods. Our challenge is to maintain a steady supply of the ingredients."
The Many Challenges in Growing Chile in Colombia
And you think you have problems. Think about growing chile during a civil war. Humberto Tenorio Duran is manager of Plantulas Del Valle, a major farming operation that grows cayenne, jalapeño, habanero and tabasco varieties in a rich valley near Cali, Colombia. The valley is one of the richest agricultural areas in the country with 20 to 40 inches of rain annually. The area historically has grown sugarcane. The chile crops are rotated with corn and sorghum.
"We have been growing peppers for 20 years. Actually we can pick one crop for two years! We grow cayenne and jalapeños for export and produce and ship mash and brine products to a number of countries. We have had few problems--except for the political climate in Colombia."
And, according to Humberto, the headlines and stories about Columbia are accurate. There is political corruption, insurrection by guerillas who are backed by drug cartels, some 1,500 kidnappings per year, and the government is beginning to privatize industries. There is political unrest because of government subsidized food crops. The national unemployment rate is 15 per cent.
"And yet we have an advantage that foreign nations should take advantage of," he insists. "We have duty-free imports of farm equipment, fertilizer, and other agricultural chemicals for products to be exported. We have an abundance of labor. We are an alternative to Mexico for many varieties of chile production," Tenorio said. "But business is difficult under current conditions."
Chile Gardeners Alert:
Cross Country Nurseries is Here to HelpWhat does a city girl who has studied interior design and architecture do when she decides to go out on her own? She studies horticulture, starts a nursery in rural New Jersey, and ultimately sells 325 varieties of chile peppers to a national market. "We’re really out in the middle of nowhere," said Janie Lamson, "and we had a nice local business until my brother gave me packets of chile seed as a gift."
Now in it’s fourth year, the Cross Country Nurseries in Rosemont, New Jersey is a mainstream commercial operation selling 750 varieties of perennial flowers, ornamental grasses and shrubs to home builders and landscaping companies. "My husband Fernando and I really enjoy growing plants and chile peppers have become my passion," she said.
"Our first sales were to locals. But the demand just kept increasing. Our real breakthrough came when Fernando invented a special packaging system 2 1/2 inches square by 3 inches deep in which not a leaf gets damaged in shipment. We ship plants all over the U.S.," Janie said. She was very appreciative for the help given her by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in solving regulatory problems involving interstate shipments of live plants.
The nursery currently has 325 varieties of chile peppers, all listed in a bright orange catalog that contains a brief description of each variety. "We have obtained seeds from every source you can think of all over the world. People have sent them to us, we have purchased them from seed companies and from growers. We are a licensed grower of the Red Savina habanero, which is one of our more popular varieties," she said. The plants are raised organically in acre-sized greenhouses.
She has an internet website, www.chileplants.com, where she has extensive information on varieties, how to grow chiles, photos of hundreds of varieties, and a use index. "Our business is growing rapidly," she said, "and we hope to be able to receive orders on the internet soon. But for now people will have to do with our catalog. We are still small scale--300 to 500 plants is our maximum order, for now."
So with all of the problems with growing chile for the market, a lady who loves chile peppers is again showing that an entrepreneur with a good idea and a plan can make a successful business.
Rich Phillips
New Mexico Chile Pepper Task Force
NMSU Agricultural Experiment Station
P.O. Box 30003
Las Cruces, New Mexico 88003
E-mail: rphillips@NMSU.edu
Harold G. Osborn
Manager of Agricultural Operations
McIlhenny Company
Avery Island, Louisiana 70513
E-mail: HOsborn@TABASCO.com
Humberto Tenorio Duran
Manager
Plantulas Del Valle
Cra. 2A Oeste No. 13-74
Cali, Columbia, South America
E-mail: htenorio@emcali.net.co
Janie Lamson
Cross Country Nurseries
P.O. Box 170
Rosemont, New Jersey 08556
15th National Pepper Conference
October 1-3, Lafayette, Louisiana
The 15th Biennial National Pepper Conference will be held in Lafayette, Louisiana October 1-3 in the Hilton Lafayette and Towers.
The aim of the conference is to bring together those with an interest in the current status of Capsicum sp. research, extension and technology. Topics of interest include: germplasm evaluation and utilization, crop physiology and technology, methods and cultural systems, sustainable approaches to production, quality standards and postharvest physiology and technology, economics, marketing and trade, and pest management.
An all day tour of the Lafayette area processing plants is scheduled for Monday, October 2. The formal conference will begin at 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, October 3, and will include contributed oral and poster presentations. The proceedings of the conference will be published.
Information on the 2000 National Pepper Conference may be obtained from:
Carl E. Mostenbacher
Associate Professor
Department of Horticulture
Louisiana State University Ag. Center
137 J.C. Miller Hall
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803
Phone: 225/388-1036
Fax: 225/388-1068
E-mail: cmots@unix1.sncc.isu.edu