The worst-ever Rio Grande drought is posing plenty of challenges this season for chile growers in New Mexico.
The Las Cruces Sun-News reports (http://bit.ly/130JzY7) that one challenge is groundwater that's applied to crops in the absence of river water is saltier.
Such water tends to stunt plants and hurt the overall yield of crops.
This week, about 60 percent of New Mexico's chile crop had been planted.
Overall acreage statewide has dropped sharply over the past two decades after the all-time high of 34,500 acres in 1992.