Chili grower's crops find wide use

TUCSON, Ariz. — When it comes to market domination, Wal-Mart could learn a few things from Ed Curry.

Curry supplies the seed for more than 80 percent of the chili grown commercially in the United States from his seed farm and processing plant 75 miles southeast of Tucson.

In addition to supplying the seed for virtually all of the domestically grown green chili that makes its way into chili paste, powder and other food products, Curry also develops and refines jalapenos, cayenne peppers used for spices and other applications, paprika used to color everything from food products to lipstick and capsaicin — the chemical that makes chilies hot, which is used for medicines and other applications.

"He has a great love and a great knowledge of chili, and he's really taken the lead in the industry," said Rich Phillips, senior project manager with the College of Agriculture and Home Economics at New Mexico State University and former coordinator of the New Mexico Chile Task Force.

While Curry derives the revenue for his Curry Seed & Chile Co. from about 10 different lines of chili seed, he's probably grown more than 3,000 varieties of chili on his acreage, he said.

Curry leans over a paprika plant in his 1,500-acre farm, carefully plucks a pepper and waxes eloquent about his passion and fascination for breeding chili.

"The whole genetics thing, it's awesome," he said, tearing open a paprika to reveal the deep red meat that could wind up in a variety of lipstick. "Part of why we're so successful is that we literally have more research going on here than many universities."

Curry's use of the term genetics refers to what is essentially selective breeding, a practice as old and earthy as dirt — culling the individuals with the qualities you most want to develop, breeding them, then starting the whole process over again.

"The whole beauty of genetics is you're never satisfied. You're always trying to improve," Curry said.

Curry wasn't formally educated in genetics but through long-term relationships with world-class California breeder Phil Villa and others. He is widely hailed in the industry for his prowess and innovation in chili genetics, Phillips said.

"I'm really what you would call a layman breeder, a hobby breeder," Curry said.

Paprika, jalapeno and cayenne aside, it's Curry's green chili — specifically his "Arizona 20" seeds — that cemented his status in seed farming, he said.