Harvest on the Hatch chile crop in New Mexico has finished up slightly earlier compared to the long-term average, though last year's crop also finished early due to a cold snap coloring the product. "The quality was phenomenal this year," says Preston Mitchell of The Hatch Chile Store. "Typically when we have a lot of rain, it causes issues during harvest. This year, the pattern of the rain was just perfect for chile."
© The Hatch Chile Store
That pattern involved some light rain at 2/10-3/10 of an inch, followed by medium temperatures for the next few days which let the fields dry out. That was followed by another light round of rain.
"The typical issue we have with rain during the monsoon season is you'll get an inch all at once and then it's 105° the next three days, which really, really increases disease pressure in the field," says Mitchell. "Microbiological activity is through the roof when it's that hot and humid. This year wasn't like that but we had a nice wet year."
In turn, heat levels on the product were lower than usual with both medium and hot running at the low end of their typical range as measured in Scoville Heat Units. "Only extra hot wasn't impacted this year, and everything ran a hair milder than usual because temperatures were more in that moderate range and we were getting lots of moisture," he says.
Regional strength in demand
In terms of demand, California's demand was down and it also finished earlier with demand generally down about 10 percent. "It was a good year for the program and it seemed everywhere but California was growing. Even in California, that was more related to the later than usual start by about two weeks–retailers there tend to want to be the first in and out of the market so we didn't have as many weeks with them as we usually do," says Mitchell.
© The Hatch Chile Store
However Oregon, Washington and Texas were all up 10 to 15 percent to make up for that development.
What about pricing? Pricing did increase this year thanks to costs such as corrugated board and labor increasing, though this was the first significant price increase in the last three years.
For more information:
Preston Mitchell
Hatch Green Chile
[email protected]
www.hatch-green-chile.com
