A group of investors and inventors are set to launch a test run they believe could save New Mexico chile.
The Las Cruces Sun-News reports the group this week plans scaled-up trial runs of mechanized harvesting and de-stemming of green chile.
Experts and farmers say mechanization is the best way to halt, and even reverse, a long-term trend of declining chile acreage in New Mexico.
The trial runs involve a harvesting machine by a U.S. company matched with a specialized chile-harvesting device from Etgar, an Israeli company.
Meanwhile, a separate machine in development by inventor Nag Kodali of Pelham, New Hamphshire, will be used to pull the stems from the chile pods.
Federal numbers showed overall chile acreage harvested across New Mexico fell in 2014 to a 43-year low.
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Information from: Las Cruces Sun-News.
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