Modeling the Production of Green Chile

Team: 51

School: Hatch Valley High

Area of Science: Agricultural Science

Interim: Problem Definition:
Since Hatch is the chile capital of the world we were inspired deeply to do this project based on chile. Growing up in Hatch made our team interested in chile production because the farmers work so hard to produce the chile they want, and in the end be disappointed from not receiving enough profit.
We are planning on creating a computer program that can help farmers achieve a better product at a lower cost, but with a greater profit.
Problem Solution:
In order to do this we are going to use NetLogo to create an agent-based model that recreates the process of creating chile. We will have a field to represent the green chile. We will also have environmental factors, chemicals, pre-harvest, harvest, and post-harvest operations. Overhead expenses shall also be included. We will create a product which will tell the pungency of the chile as well as the cost per acre.
Progress to Date:
We visited the Chile Pepper Institute at NMSU and received a lot of statistical information about chile production and the chile that consumers in our area want the most. They gave us great tips on how to freeze and can chile. They also taught us about the most common diseases that affect chile in our area. We were given statistical information about the amount of chile harvested per acre in Sierra and Dona Ana County. Dona Ana County produced 34,830 tons of chiles in 2004 and 16,720 tons in 2005 and 22,100 tons in 2006. We also received salsa recipes along with information about the founder of the institute, Mr. Fabian Garcia.
At the institute we received the following data collected by chile scientists at NMSU Chile Pepper Institute:
Ingredients Needed
1. Seeds
2. Nitrogen (N)
3. Phosphate (P205)
4. Herbicide
5. Insecticide
6. Nematicide (Custom)
7. Crop Insurance
8. Pump Water
9. Canal Water
Pre-Harvest Operations
1. Disc
2. Chisel
3. Plow
4. Disc (2x)
5. Laser plane (custom)
6. Fertilizer
7. Disc and Spray
8. Lister
9. Pre-irrigation
10. Rolling Cult
11. Veg plant- shaper
12. Rolling Cult (2x)
13. Cultivator (3x)
14. Cult and Sidedress (2x)
15. Thinning (Custom)
16. Hoeing (Custom)
17. Roto Buck (7x)
18. Irrigation (10x)
Harvest Operations
1. Harvest Green (Custom)
2. Haul (Trailer) (3x)
3. Fork Lift (3x)
4. Haul (Custom)
Post-Harvest Operations
1. Shredder
Overhead Expenses
1. Down Time
2. Employee Benefits
3. Insurance
4. Land Tax
5. Supervision and Management
6. Other Expenses
Expected Results
What we expect from our program is to find out the total cost for creating the perfect chile with the least amount of cost to the farmers. We also want to be able to help all of the farmers in our community make their crops better.

Bibliography:
NMSU Chile Pepper Institute, Initials. (Ed.). (2006). Vegetables and Nuts. Las Cruces, NM: NMSU Chile Pepper Institute.

Team Members:

  yoliy gamboa
  Alfred Cabrales
  Joel Cazares

Sponsoring Teacher: Creighton Edington

Mail the entire Team