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NEW MEXICO CHILE PRODUCTION 2003
                                        
New Mexico chile production dropped to 85,360 tons in 2003, 9 percent below 2002. Planted acreage was estimated at 15,800 acres, well below the previous year plantings of 18,000 acres, primarily du e to the continuing drought conditions. Harvested acreage was 14,700 acres with a large amount of acreage lost to hail damage.
Despite the decrease in harvested acreage, growers maintained the high yields similar to the previous year. The average state yield for green long mild was 12.7 tons per acre while paprika averaged 1.7 tons per acre. The value of New Mexico chile was estimated at $41.08 million, 20 percent less than 2002.


2003 Chile Acreage, Yield, and Production by County
Planted Acreage Harvested Acreage Production (Tons)
County 2001 1/ 2002 2003 2001 2002 2003 2001 2002 2003
Chaves --- 1,100 1,000 1,400 1,100 500 4,900 2,880 1,450
Doña Ana --- 4,500 3,500 4,200 4,400 3,400 21,000 27,170 24,410
Eddy --- 1,200 600 1,100 1,100 500 1,800 1,910 610
Hidalgo --- 2,600 2,900 2,200 2,400 2,800 13,200 13,700 8,630
Lea --- 1,200 1,600 800 1,100 1,500 1,600 2,000 2,240
Luna --- 5,600 5,100 6,200 5,300 5,000 32,900 42,050 43,680
Sierra --- 900 600 700 700 600 2,800 3,280 3,100
Other Counties2/ --- 900 500 1,100 700 400 2,800 3,410 1,240
State --- 18,000 15,800 17,700 16,800 14,700 81,000 96,400 85,360
1/ Planted acreage not available for 2001.
2/ Other counties include Bernalillo, Cibola, Curry, Guadalupe, Otero, Rio Arriba, Roosevelt, Sandoval,
Santa Fe, Socorro, and Valencia.

        

        
2003 Chile Acreage, Yield, Production, & Value by Variety

Variety 		Acreage 1/
Harvested 		Yield Per
Acre 		Production Average Price
Per Ton 		Value of
Production
--------------------Tons------------------ ------Dollars------ ------$1,000------
Green
Jalapeño 700 12.6 8,800 301 2,650
Long Mild 2/ 3,900 12.7 49,650 289 14,360
Long Hot 900 7.8 7,000 386 2,700
Red
Paprika 4,800 1.7 8,100 1,365 11,060
Cayenne 3/ 700 8.3 5,800 400 2,320
Long Mild 4,000 1.3 5,000 1,310 6,550
Long Hot 1,100 0.9 1,010 1,426 1,440
Total 14,700 5.8 85,360 481 41,080
1/ 1,400 acres were harvested for both green and red, but only counted once in the total.
2/ Includes a small amount of other peppers, not published separately to avoid disclosure of individual operations.
3/ Production and yield are wet tonnage (a ratio of 8:1 can be used to convert to a dry weight).

2003 Chile Yields by County & Variety
----Green---- ----Red----
County Jalapeño Long Mild Long Hot Paprika Cayenne1/ Long Mild Long Hot
Chaves 2/ 2/ 2/ 1.5 5.0 2/ 2/
Doña Ana 13.2 2.4 6.9 1.9 9.0 1.4 0.9
Eddy --- --- --- 1.2 --- --- ---
Hidalgo 13.0 9.0 7.0 1.8 --- 1.4 2/
Lea --- --- --- 1.6 --- 1.2 ---
Luna 12.0 13.8 11.2 1.7 8.0 1.1 1.0
Sierra --- 12.0 2/ 1.8 --- 1.0 1.0
Other Counties 3/ 5.0 4.5 9.5 1.6 --- 1.0 0.9
State 12.6 12.7 7.8 1.7 8.3 1.3 0.9
1/ Dry tonnage except cayenne, which is a wet tonnage (a ratio of 8:1 can be used to convert to a dry weight).
2/ Included in Other Counties.
3/ Other counties include Bernalillo, Cibola, Curry, Guadalupe, Otero, Roosevelt, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Socorro and Valencia.


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