SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 44

50th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2012

INTRODUCED BY

Howie Morales

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT, THE TOURISM DEPARTMENT AND THE NEW MEXICO DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE TO PROVIDE CRITICAL ASSISTANCE TO ENCOURAGE THE DEVELOPMENT OF FARMS AND COMPANIES THAT GROW, PROCESS, SELL AND SERVE NEW MEXICO CHILE PEPPERS AND NEW MEXICO CHILE PEPPER PRODUCTS.

     WHEREAS, New Mexico is recognized for having the best- tasting chile in the United States; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexicans take great pride in New Mexico chile as a culinary treasure; and

     WHEREAS, chile is recognized as the state vegetable, and "red or green?" is the state question; and

     WHEREAS, chile is to New Mexico what the potato is to Idaho and the orange is to Florida; and

     WHEREAS, the tourism department features red and green chiles as symbols for New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, according to the New Mexico chile association, chile pepper production provides approximately four thousand full- and part-time jobs and contributes about four hundred sixty-five million dollars ($465,000,000) annually to the New Mexico economy; and

     WHEREAS, the chile industry is a home-grown, largely rural industry that has existed in New Mexico's Rio Grande valley for over four centuries; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico's chile acreage has declined by two-thirds from its peak in 1992, when thirty-four thousand five hundred acres were grown in New Mexico, to 2008, when only eleven thousand one hundred acres were grown in the state, according to the national agricultural statistics service; and

     WHEREAS, according to a 2009 survey conducted by research & polling, incorporated, ninety-two percent of New Mexico chile consumers are concerned about the decline in chile acreage across the state; and

     WHEREAS, about eighty percent of chile consumed in the United States is foreign grown and imported, according to Western Farm Press, with chile primarily coming from Mexico, Peru, China and India; and

     WHEREAS, the research & polling, incorporated, survey reports that seventy-three percent of respondents say it is very important that the chile they purchase is grown in New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, this same survey indicates that ninety percent of New Mexico chile consumers agree that officials should do everything in their power to ensure that chile continues to be processed and grown in New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, foreign competitors have captured much of New Mexico's market share of chile products because of their advantageous regulatory environment and plentiful, cheap labor; and

     WHEREAS, according to the New Mexico chile association, while consumption of chile is skyrocketing in the United States, New Mexico's production of chile is in steep decline; and

     WHEREAS, the farmers and producers who comprise the New Mexico chile industry must regain competitiveness to retake market share of the growing market for chile peppers;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the economic development department, the tourism department and the New Mexico department of agriculture be requested to provide critical assistance to encourage the development of farms and companies that grow, process, sell and serve New Mexico chile peppers and New Mexico chile pepper products; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the secretary of economic development, the secretary of tourism and the director of the New Mexico department of agriculture.

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