Dedicated to the Hatch chile pepper farmers of New Mexico and the Chihuahua desert region of Mexico. My grandmother Susie Parks was a national heroine of the 1916 Pancho Villa raid on Columbus, New Mexico — my roots in this desert go deep, and so does this story.

Every pepper on Earth — Hatch green chiles, jalapeños, bell peppers, habaneros — hides its pollen inside sealed tubes that only buzz-pollinating bees can open. Honeybees can't do it. Remove the bees and you lose two-thirds of your pepper crop. The global pepper market is worth over $60 billion, and the bees behind it are declining. This is the story nobody at the Hatch Chile Festival is telling.

www.secretpollinators.com

KEY SOURCES

• • Chile Pepper Institute, New Mexico State University: Hatch chile history, NuMex varieties, cultivation since 1894
  • Albuquerque Journal (2021): NM 9,000 acres, 152 million pounds, $52 million state income, billion-dollar agricultural engine
  • Rio Rancho Observer (2024): Chile acreage dropped from 34,000 to 8,500; production from 100,000+ tons to 46,750 tons; $41.5 million production value 2023
  • Fortune Business Insights (2025): Global capsicum market valued at $73 billion, projected $122 billion by 2034
  • Research and Markets (2024): Global capsicum market estimated $84.2 billion
  • Business Research Insights (2025): Global bell pepper market $10.65 billion
  • Cooley & Vallejo-Marín (2021): Buzz-pollinated crops meta-analysis, Journal of Economic Entomology — buzz-pollinating bees significantly increase fruit weight vs all other methods
  • Silva et al. (2024): Solanaceae crop-pollinator meta-network — third highest ranked family by economic value, production highly improved by animal pollination
  • Capsicum annuum pollination studies: Open-pollinated 87% fruit set vs 26% without pollinators; carpenter bees and stingless bees as effective buzz pollinators
  • USGS (2023): Western bumble bee 57% decline
  • USFWS (Jan 2026): Proposed nationwide Conservation Benefit Agreement for 11 bumble bee species, docket FWS-R3-ES-2025-0245
  • NM Legislature (2012): Law prohibiting "New Mexican" chile label on peppers not grown in NM
  • Susan "Susie" Parks: NM Historic Women Marker Program; Wikipedia; susieparks.com. Heroine of the March 9, 1916 Pancho Villa raid on Columbus, NM. Historic marker at Hwy 9/Hwy 11 intersection, Columbus. Switchboard displayed at Telephone Museum of NM, Albuquerque.
  • Hatch Chile Festival: Annual Labor Day weekend, 30,000+ visitors, 53rd year in 2025

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