Supplies of Hatch chile peppers are tighter so far this season.
“Overall acreage in the Hatch Valley has gone up a little bit this year but not by much. Yields look significantly better than last year. It may not be a stellar year but last year was rough,” says Preston Mitchell of Hatch Green Chile in Hatch, NM. He notes that last year, cold weather early in the season stunted growth of the plants and yields were down throughout the region. “This year it looks like the supply will be there if we can get it harvested,” he adds.
Preston Mitchell (right) and wife Elaine, with Sean Harris in the Hatch Chile field.
Therein lies the challenge with the 2020 supply of New Mexico peppers. “The labor situation has made harvesting extremely difficult for all of our growers. We have a tight labor situation,” says Mitchell.
The issues around labor are multifold, particularly when it comes to the labor-intensive process of harvesting Hatch chiles. Mitchell says that new federal unemployment benefits on top of an already high wage replacement rate in New Mexico have seriously impacted available labor. “That additional benefit has created situations where people can make 10-20 percent more on unemployment than they can working,” he says. He estimates that overall, he’s short approximately 15-20 percent of labor on each crew with each grower the company deals with. “So instead of having four to five loads harvested we have one to two loads come in and some days nothing at all,” he says.
Another challenge includes crews leaving work earlier than anticipated which also impacts production.
Increased 2020 demand
Meanwhile this tight availability is meeting a year that’s strong in demand for Hatch chiles.
“We were worried with Coronavirus that there’d be a big decline in demand but it’s just shifted,” says Mitchell. “I don’t think it’s more demand in aggregate. It’s just interest for a different style of product.”
Typically, retailers roast Hatch peppers in stores from bulk boxes, a process which garners long lines of consumers and crowds and extra employees to supervise the roasting. “Now they want fewer employees in the store and no crowds or lines so retailers are ordering retail-ready bags for consumers to grab,” says Mitchell. “But hand packing retail boxes instead of bulk boxes has also slowed things down.”
That said, the bags may help extend the season for Hatch chiles says Mitchell, who also notes strong demand is coming from canneries as well. “There’s a lot of compressed demand for the fresh market on the front end of the season. Retailers want to be first in, first out,” he says. “We’re hoping this shift to bags will keep the chiles on the shelf longer so we can stretch that season out a little further.”
The importance of eating local
Also factoring into strong demand is the interest in sourcing food locally. “Retail buyers are asking for letters certifying that your chile is actually from the Hatch Valley, for a copy of your licence agreement with the Chile Association, etc.,” says Mitchell, who notes that it’s an important distinction from chiles from over the border in Mexico as close as 60 miles away.
Meanwhile, what remains a challenge is pricing on the chiles— Mitchell says the price is rising. He also adds that annual increases in the state’s minimum wage is driving this to a great extent.
Looking ahead, Mitchell hopes that when the local onion season wraps up in the next few weeks, labor won’t be quite as tight and in turn, supplies will open up.
For more information:
Preston Mitchell
Hatch Green Chile
Ph: +1 (575) 635-4680
preston@hatch-green-chile.com
www.hatch-green-chile.com