Monday, May 18, 2015

More good water rather than a brand

by Michael Swickard

            There is a big push to establish the brand: Hatch Chile. One thing stands in the way: can consumers taste the difference between Hatch New Mexico Chile and chile grown somewhere else? Can the consumer say, "Hey, that's not the taste of Hatch Chile, I believe that chile was grown in New York City... get a rope."
            Can we taste the difference when NuMex Big Jim, NuMex Joe E. Parker or NuMex Heritage 6-4 is grown in Hatch rather than when it is grown in Deming? No. If the only way we know it is Hatch Chile is a label, the value is less compelling.
            Many years ago there was an attempt to tease the brand from the product in domestic beer. The people who took the test conducted by PJT Accountants could not distinguish beers if they could not see the label. That is why so much money is spent on advertising to establish the brand of a beer.
            Contrast that with a demonstration of wine tasting years ago. An expert was given a glass and declared it to be a 1954 Blahblahblah. The moderator said, "Close, it is a 1955." The taster said, "No, there were six cases of 1954 left over that were labeled 1955. This is from one of those bottles." Amazingly, the expert was right.
            The beef producers have it right with their slogan: Eat More Beef. Chile is the same and should use: Eat More Chile. The more anyone eats chile, any chile, the better it is for the chile farmers in Hatch, New Mexico.
            The issue is that there is a finite amount of demand worldwide for beef, chile and pecans. Getting people to eat more of each thereby increases the value of those New Mexico crops. That is the approach that we need to make and even more important we need to make it easier to grow those crops.
            The real problem for Hatch New Mexico chile producers is production. First you need to know that chile is a tough crop. Some growers say that chile is tough because it is always trying to die. Worse, last year New Mexico grew one third the amount of acres of chile as they did some years previously.
            Because of the human cost of harvest, the way chile matures is a problem. Agricultural Producers want a crop to mature all at once so the whole field can be harvested at once such as with lettuce. In some crops only part of the crop matures at a time so human labor costs are high. That is one of the problems with green chile.
            Researchers are trying to get all of the green chile to mature at the same time for monetary reasons. But this just takes us into the problem of taste. People are taking green chile seeds to other parts of our country and Mexico and returning with chile that cannot be distinguished.
            What also has an effect upon the growth of the chile is the quality of the water used for the crop. New Mexico leaders have been trying to not increase New Mexico's supply of good water for political reasons. Instead their mantra is to "Conserve our way to plenty." Can't be done. We need lots of new good water.
All water is not the same; water with a high total dissolved solid content above 500 makes it harder to grow crops. Plus the deposits of alkaline leeches into the soil so there is an unhealthy concentration which makes growing crops harder.
            What we need is a big water project bringing fresh good water to New Mexico in a quantity that is a game changer. We have a good climate and plenty of space, what we lack is good water. We need to fill our lakes with pure water that would cleanse our farm lands and make growing much easier.
            That will take real leadership. We have seen that leadership in neighboring states such as the Arizona Water Project. Why not here? What use is the brand Hatch Chile if we do not have enough good water to grow the crops? Better that we be known as a great place to grow chile.



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