No Bumble Bees, No Hatch Chile: The $60 Billion Pepper Secret

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#SecretPollinators #HatchChile #HatchGreenChile #NMTrue #NoBumbleBeesNoHatchChile #ChilePeppers #BuzzPollination #BumbleBees #NativeBees #SaveTheBees #SolanaceaeFamily #JalapenoPeppers #BellPeppers #NewMexico #HatchChileFestival #SciencePodcast #NaturePodcast #SciComm #PollinatorConservation #FoodSecurity #GrowYourOwnFood #NewEpisode #NewMexico #Chihuahua #LasCruces #NM #PepperFarmers #Mexico #farmers #ColumbusNewMexico #SusieParks #PanchoVillaRaid #HatchChile #NMSU #NewMexicoStateUniversity