Farmers look forward to return of Hatch Chile Festival for Labor Day weekend

HATCH, New Mexico - After pandemic restrictions discouraged travel and canceled the Hatch Chile Festival in 2020, farmers are praying that their business can recover this season.

“It was a hard year," said Sergio Grajeda Jr., whose family has farmed the crop for thirty years. "But we got through it. We got back on our feet.”

On his worst days last year, Grajeda Jr. was forced to sell 70 sacks a day, compared to 200 or 300 during a normal season. He estimated revenue was down by more than 30 percent in 2020.

He also struggled to bring workers to the fields. Grajeda Jr. said at the start of the pandemic, his family employed 15 farmworkers. That number dropped to about 2 in the middle of 2020. Now, he has 7 or 8.

"We're doing a little better in the picking, but we still need people," he explained.

The New Mexico Coalition of Agricultural Workers and Advocates worked this year to test and vaccinate about 250 farmworkers, according to Felipe Guevara, a workers’ rights attorney for New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty.

“They’re a pivotal part of the (food supply) chain," Guevara said. "Unfortunately, we often see that they’re the most ignored part. They’re the most underappreciated part of this chain.”

With workers returning to the fields, the Hatch Valley is now preparing for the return of the Hatch Chile Festival this Labor Day weekend.

“Hatch Chile is the best in the world," Grajeda Jr. said.

Details on the 49th annual Hatch Chile Festival to be held Sept. 4 and 5 can be found online at hatchchilefestival.org.