Business feature: Garden hoping for certification

Genesis Gardens Homestead on Tucumcari's north side has been growing green chile peppers for customers for nearly 20 years. Soon, Genesis Gardens' crop is all but assured it would earn the coveted New Mexico Certified Chile designation.

Genesis co-owner Sally Baker said a member of the New Mexico Chile Association will visit her farm in the next week or two before it earns the certification.

"They just have to see our fields and make sure we're compliant with the health rules, which we are," Baker said.

The certification "guarantees this chile IS New Mexico Certified Chile. The NMCA has trademarked the words and logo 'New Mexico Certified Chile' and members of the NMCA can become licensees to use the trademark in advertising," according to the association's website.

Genesis Gardens Homestead would be the only New Mexico Certified chile grower for miles around.

Baker said she also will enter her chiles in the association's annual Chile Taste-Off. The competition usually takes place in Socorro. This year, competitors' chile will be taken to farmers markets around the state, where customers will sample and vote on their favorites, she said.

Baker wouldn't disclose the green chile varieties grown on her farm.

"We've spent years selecting the best varieties for our soil conditions and climate conditions here," she said. "What works down at Hatch doesn't necessarily work here. It's not just heat - if it doesn't have flavor, we don't grow it.

"They're not the same varieties you see in the grocery store, I'll tell you that," she added.

Because of hot and dry weather this summer, Baker said her chile crop has a hotter flavor this year. The heat profiles she offers range from mild to extra-extra hot.

"Some people have switched their orders from hot to medium because the hot is really hot," she said. "We're really thankful we have our wells so we can keep things watered. I know they're having a lot of problems in making chile-growing areas having enough workers, having enough irrigation water."

She said the dry conditions led to a grasshopper infestation that devastated many of her other crops.

"Since we don't use pesticides or herbicides, it was kind of a battle," Baker said. "But they left the chile. There's some damage, but it's very minimal."

The association is trying to help chile growers when it can. The industry has been in a steep decline for decades. Acreage has fallen from more than 34,000 in 1992 to less than 9,000 by 2013.

"About 90% of the chile sold in the United States does not come from New Mexico.," Baker said. "The people who sell it on the side of the road, you don't know whether it came from Mexico or wherever else it came from."

Fortunately for Genesis Garden, she has a loyal customer base.

"We've had people who've purchased from us for years, and they would tell somebody else about us," she said. We almost have more customers than we have orders available right now. It's been great."

She said she's going to keep close tabs on her one-acre chile field's production "so we know how much more we need to plant next year."

Darrell Baker, her husband and co-owner of the farm, said Friday this year's crop has been yielding about 10 bushels of green chile per every 200-foot row, which is excellent. He said he and Sally are strongly looking at adding more land at their farm for chile production.

While she also sells some fresh-picked green chile at a market in Mora, don't expect her to put her crop in burlap sacks or boxes anytime soon.

"It makes a world of difference whether it's been boxed up and stored in a cool room," she said. "If we can't do fresh, we're not going to do it."