Green chile farmers harvest crops after two years of struggle

It’s harvest season in Hatch, New Mexico and farmers are enjoying a good crop this season

“Everything has worked out pretty well so far, the rain pressure wasn’t horrible,” said Chris Franzoy, owner of Young Gun Produce.

“We are very fortunate to have a very nice summer. Temperatures were a little warmer than we had hoped, but overall the crop turned out well.”

The sun and rain are not the only concerns on this farm. Labor itself, the hands needed to actually pick the chiles have been short for the past several years

“The past two years were pretty rough in terms of not having enough labor and we were not able to harvest all of our chile crop,” said Franzoy.

As a result, crops were left on the field last year with no one to pick them.

Labor has picked up in 2018, Franzoy said Citizenship and Immigration services sped up the temporary agricultural visas letting him hire enough help.

“Through H2A programs our workers were able to harvest more consistently and we were also fortunate enough to have enough labor at the processing plant as well,” Franzoy said.

There’s still one hurdle: the burning ball of gas in the sky.

This year’s warm summer made the chiles mature faster than normal, turning many red instead of the famous green.

For now Franzoy says the field teams are working hard to pick the crops in time to sell this as Hatch Green Chile