Distressed New Mexico green chile producers may have easier access to federal assistance under a new law U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) introduced Tuesday.
The Cultivating Horticultural Innovation in Local Economies Act, aka the CHILE Act, would ensure the United States Department of Agriculture uses a consistent process for providing emergency funding to producers of designated specialty crops — including green chile and pecans in New Mexico — according to a news release Tuesday from Luján’s office.
Luján said in a statement that specialty crop producers lack a standard, predictable means for receiving federal disaster assistance, unlike other agricultural producers.
“When disasters, market disruptions, and other challenges threaten their livelihoods, growers deserve a reliable process for getting the emergency assistance they need,” Luján said.
The CHILE Act — which Luján and five other Democratic senators sponsored — notes that specialty crops often cost more to produce and also sell for more than non-speciality crops, which the USDA lists as corn, wheat, alfalfa and hay, among others.
The CHILE Act directs the USDA to pay specialty crop growers an amount based on their sales in the year before an “adverse event,” including economic crises, market disruptions or other disasters.
The bill also seeks $5 billion in the upcoming federal fiscal year for USDA to spend specifically on specialty crops disaster assistance.
Ben Etcheverry, vice president of the New Mexico Chile Association, told Source NM that specialty crop producers seem to always be “at the very back of the bus” when it comes to getting USDA assistance.
“The row crop guys are definitely the bigger guys, and they’re definitely there first getting crop assistance,” he said. “So, this is the first step in terms of getting good disaster relief.”
He said the state’s chile industry has suffered “significant” losses in recent years due to lack of water and “climate instability,” making the industry more reliant than ever on government assistance.
“Growing vegetables is tough, and it’s getting tougher every day,” he said.
