Chile harvest nearly finished

About 75 percent of the red chile crop in New Mexico has been harvested so far, according to a federal crop progress report issued Monday. That's slightly ahead of last year, but behind a five-year average for progress at this point in the year. Overall, the crop - which includes both the red varieties that mature from hot green peppers, as well as paprika - is having an average year, said Stephanie Walker, extension vegetable specialist at New Mexico State University. The crop benefited from a lack of rainfall, which promotes a chile disease, she said, but it also suffered from some spring weather stresses that impacted the green chile crop. Farmers began harvesting red chile in mid-September. "Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, in early December, it will pretty much finish up," Walker said. In 2010, some 4,550 acres of red chile were harvested in New Mexico - accounting for about half of all chile production in the state, according to numbers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The remainder was green chile...more