LAS CRUCES — The unusually wet winter in Don?a Ana County has its benefits, such as infusing desert land with much-needed moisture and taking nutrient-carrying rain to plants.
But, for red chile farmers, the precipitation has its down side, too — namely by slowing the harvest of crop.
"It's been so wet," said Garfield-area farmer Dickie Ogaz. "We haven't been able to get through harvesting."
At issue is that muddy fields keep farm workers and harvesting machinery from moving through the fields. While the ground may dry out for a while, storms have been frequent enough to re-soak it periodically.
Red chile, grown on the same plants as green chile, matures in the fall as temperatures begin to drop. Farmers said red peppers can remain on the dried plant for weeks or months after the first freeze. Rain doesn't initially damage the peppers, but after an extended amount of time, exposure to the elements can degrade the quality, they said.
Randy Garay, who grows chile in Arrey, said warmer than usually fall temperatures led to more production of both green chile and red chile. He estimated there were extra two weeks of growth beyond a typical season.
"The summer was extended," he said. "We had a late freeze. The plant was able to keep on producing and yield a little more than other years."
But then rain storms began sweeping across the county, creating a stop-and-go harvest operation for red chile.
"Here at the end, the rains extended the time line for harvest," Garay said. "When it rains we couldn't get back into the field."
Through last week, Las Cruces sat at the fourth-wettest January on record with nearly 1.4 inches of rain having fallen since the start of the month. That total didn't include the rain of this weekend.
Garay said in more-typical years, he's finished the red chile harvest by Christmas or the new year. But this year, his operation — harvesting and processing — operation wound down a little more than a week ago.
Hatch-area chile farmer Jerry Franzoy said most of the larger commercial farms were able to finish their red chile harvest already. His operation focuses more on green chile than red chile and so wasn't affected much by the weather.
"There's real small farms that are still picking chile, even today," he said Friday. "Most of the bigger farms, they're just done."
However, Franzoy said the precipitation could create delays for other field work, such as planting of onions, if it continues. The moisture has benefited some crops already in the ground.
In 2015, some 7,700 acres of red chile, including paprika and long hot/mild, were harvested in New Mexico, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's most-recent numbers. The crop was valued at $11.2 million, accounting for more than a quarter of the total chile sales in the state.
Garay said in terms of chile, 2016 went well, though it featured unusual weather.
"The quality was good," he said. "This summer was one of the hottest on record. It created some obstacles — a little more heat in the chile than in other years. Overall, it was a pretty good year."
Ogaz said the quality is good for the red chile crop; weather is the main problem.
"The yields were good, but we just couldn't get it out of the field," he said. "I hope we can get through one of these days."
As the harvest winds down, organizers of the 2017 New Mexico Chile Conference said they're prepping for this year's event, which focuses upon research and industry trends. The event runs March 6-7 at Hotel Encanto in Las Cruces.
Diana Alba Soular may be reached at 575-541-5443, [email protected] or @AlbaSoular on Twitter.