Listen Now: Spicing up the Bottom Line

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New Mexico is heating up production of its most famous crop. I’m Brian Banmiller on Business.

During the last growing season, New Mexico produced more than 53 tons of chilly peppers. An increase from the year before thanks to what farmers say are irrigation and cultivation improvements. And the crop is being credited for spicing up the state’s bottom line. The value of the crop was estimated at more than $46 million. Most of that came from processed chilies used for salsa, sauces, and spices and about four million coming from the sale of fresh chilies. As the numbers were announced this week, New Mexico’s governor celebrated by signing legislation naming the smell of roasting green chilies as the state’s official aroma. Chile is also one of the official state vegetables, is on license plates and forms the basis of the state’s official question: “Red or Green?’ It’s even adopted its own trademark and certification program to protect the crop similar to what Idaho has done with potatoes and Maine with its lobsters. This way they can keep cashing in on one very hot product.  Brian Banmiller, CBS News.

About Brian

CBS News Radio national business journalist Brian Banmiller has spent more than 40 years in the news industry, covering business, politics and the economy on television, radio and in print. Currently, his “Banmiller on Business” reports are delivered to an audience of millions nationwide.