Uvalde, Texas
October 22, 2008
By themselves or as an ingredient
in a variety of foods, including salsa, America’s top-selling
condiment, peppers have found a warm spot in the hearts and
stomachs of U.S. consumers.
But while U.S. Department of Agriculture figures show
consumption of fresh peppers at an all-time high, only a
fraction are grown domestically.
Currently more than 70 percent of all fresh peppers consumed in
the U.S. are imported from Mexico and another 18 percent are
imported from Canada, according to the USDA.
“Ironically, our domestic fresh pepper production has been
declining steadily in a region renowned for its love of peppers
– the American Southwest,” said Dr. Daniel Leskovar, a vegetable
physiologist with
Texas AgriLife Research.
Leskovar said U.S. fresh pepper production has declined
significantly in the past decade due to global competition,
labor issues, inconsistent market prices and inefficient
agricultural practices.
“These factors, along with drought, plant disease and other
challenges that are prevalent in the Southwest, have made it
difficult for producers in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and
Arizona to grow peppers profitably,” he said.
“Pepper production in the Southwest is often marred by drought,
heat and plant diseases, which cause severe plant stress and
reduce marketable yields by up to 50 percent,” said Leskovar,
who works from the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center
in Uvalde.
To help Southwestern pepper producers, Leskovar and other Texas
A&M System scientists and agriculture experts have teamed up to
develop several new adapted fresh pepper hybrids.
Leskovar said that the objective of this research is to
“maximize pepper production efficiency and improve the quality
of specialty peppers so producers in these four states can
increase their profitability.”
“We developed several new cultivars that were more well adapted
to climatic conditions and plant diseases of the Southwest, as
well as to consumer preferences,” he said.
The team has already bred several new cultivars of jalapeno,
serrano, Habanero, poblano ancho, bell and other fresh pepper
plants.
“Most of the breeding and selection of these new pepper hybrids
has been done in test plots at the Uvalde center,” Leskovar
said. “Uvalde is a good test area because the soil and climate
are similar to many other parts of Texas and the Southwestern
U.S. where peppers are now being grown.”
“At the same time, we’ve been developing these cultivars to
produce higher yields of peppers with the size, shape, color,
capsaicin (the active “heat” ingredient) level and nutritional
content American consumers want,” said Dr. Kevin Crosby, a plant
breeding expert with AgriLife Research in College Station and
key team member.
Crosby, who received national attention by developing a milder
version of the notoriously hot Habanero pepper, said the new
hybrids are meeting or exceeding expectations for appearance,
yield and quality.
“These peppers not only look good, they taste great and the
plants produce impressive amounts of fruit, all of which should
please both the producer and the consumer,” he said.
The team has established the first-known poblano pepper
production in Texas through a partnership with San Antonio-based
Constanzo Farms and is collaborating with other large producers
in New Mexico and Arizona. They also have licensed two hot
pepper cultivars in the past three years and have provided stock
seed for commercial production, as well as providing large
quantities of trial seed to pepper growers in Texas, New Mexico
and Arizona.
Though some of the team’s efforts began as far back as three
years ago, “results have had to be replicable and it has taken
time to conduct trails, collaborate with growers, packers and
processors and retailers, and get their feedback,” Leskovar
said.
Along with cultivar development, the team also is investigating
additional strategies for overcoming other challenges to
Southwestern pepper production. Some of these include working
with regional producers on more efficient irrigation and
cropping techniques, and developing a cropping system more
suitable to machine harvesting.
“After drought and disease, probably the biggest obstacle to
pepper production in the Southwest is labor,” Leskovar said.
“Pepper harvesting is very labor-intensive because it’s done
almost exclusively by hand. And it’s also difficult for
producers to find adequate labor when it’s needed.”
The team already has tested numerous jalapeno, green chile and
Habanero lines in Texas and New Mexico to determine suitability
for machine harvesting.
“We’ve developed pepper plants that have less foliage, bear more
fruit and require less labor-intensive harvest,” Leskovar said.
He added that the new cultivars also are being bred for higher
amounts of vitamin C, phytochemicals and antioxidants.
“Peppers are a good source of dietary fiber and contain a number
of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients that are known to
promote human health,” Leskovar said. “And research on
capsaicin, the ingredient that makes peppers hot, has shown it
has some positive uses for human health and wellness.”
According to the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center,
capsaicin is already used as a “topical anti-arthritic and
anti-inflammatory agent” and is “generally recognized as a
powerful local stimulant with no narcotic effect.”
Additional research indicates capsaicin may have cancer-fighting
properties and may also facilitate insulin production. It also
has been identified as a useful pharmacological component in
treating chronic pain.
Crosby said increased domestic production of fresh peppers might
help address another “health” issue – consumer concerns about
product safety.
“Between high U.S. standards relating to product safety and the
closer proximity of production to the point of use, consumers
will be able to feel more secure about the fresh pepper product
they’re buying,” Crosby said.
“We’re hoping our efforts will lead to a reduction in cost of
production and an increase in the yield and quality of peppers
so growers in the Southwest can remain competitive,” Leskovar
said. “Since people in the Southwestern U.S. consume so many
peppers, it seems only right that producers in the region should
derive an economic benefit by supplying them.” |
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