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I have tried doing some research on the Hatch chile crop this year. All I have read have been conflicting reports. One article said a crop shortage and another said plenty of chile this year, but will be hotter due to the rain shortage.
Can anyone give me an update on the Hatch chile this year. Have they already started harvesting. We usually make the trip to buy chiles the last of Aug. but a little afraid we might miss out if we wait that long.
I have tried doing some research on the Hatch chile crop this year. All I have read have been conflicting reports. One article said a crop shortage and another said plenty of chile this year, but will be hotter due to the rain shortage.
Can anyone give me an update on the Hatch chile this year. Have they already started harvesting. We usually make the trip to buy chiles the last of Aug. but a little afraid we might miss out if we wait that long.
Any info would be apperciated!!!
This is all I have seen published over and over...
Smaller chile crop expected due to water scarcity
Published 01:37 p.m., Sunday, July 17, 201
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) —
1. Green chile farmers in the Hatch and Mesilla valleys in southern New Mexico expect a smaller crop during this season due a scarcity of water.
2. Several processors told the Albuquerque Journal that they didn't expect to be affected much by the smaller water allotment from the Rio Grande, because they generally buy chile from farmers with wells who can deliver on prearranged contracts.
Read more: Smaller chile crop expected due to water scarcity - San Antonio Express-News (http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/article/Smaller-chile-crop-expected-due-to-water-scarcity-1469873.php#ixzz1TuaedUnY - broken link)
We normally get ours while visiting family in Clovis. Think I will come a little earlier to make sure I get my freezer filled, LOL. I can't go a year without my chiles.
Signs seen today advertising roasting in progress in Ruidoso area of the Hatch chile crop. Nothing smells as good - mixed with the smell of falling rain here.
I was in Hatch not long ago, and the crop is off there. Two things conspired to make this happen, though they're related.
There is little water available from the Rio Grande this year, and chile needs plenty of water. The ground water around Hatch has relatively high salinity, which really hurts chile plants, thus affecting how much ground water irrigation can help make up for the low river water levels.
The second thing is that cotton prices are very high now. Cotton uses less water than chile. Cotton is much more tolerant of salty well water used for irrigation.
Couple this with generally low prices for chile and it doesn't take a mental heavyweight to see where farmers are going to go at planting time ....lots of cotton was planted. Farmers don't farm for fun, they farm for profit, and the profit in that area is in cotton.
Down river, closer to Las Cruces/Mesilla, the groundwater is much better for chile, so there's an abundant crop that's now being harvested. And probably being sold as "Hatch" chile in Albuquerque and Santa Fe.
Man I cate wait to smell the chilies roasting in the morning. I live a block away from the grocery store here and my house smells of roasted chilies every morning when I wake up
Not heard anything about the Hatch chilies. I dont think ours come from there, I cant remember the name of the place off hand.
The second thing is that cotton prices are very high now. Cotton uses less water than chile. Cotton is much more tolerant of salty well water used for irrigation.
Interesting. At one time "cotton was king" along the Rio Grande irrigation districts. And it was high-grad Pima cotton too. It was necessary to rotate planting with alfalfa every other year. I wonder how many of the cotton gins still exist in working order?
I'm not conversant on cotton's ups and downs but am guessing that other crops began being planted when cotton prices plummeted as a result of foreign competition. Onions were a big crop at one time.
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, thus affecting how much ground water irrigation can help make up for the low river water levels. 
....lots of cotton was planted. Farmers don't farm for fun, they farm for profit, and the profit in that area is in cotton.
in Albuquerque and Santa Fe.
