Fabián García: Father of the New Mexico Chile Pepper Industry

• In Event: The Spicy Life: Environmental and Cultural Histories of the New Mexico Chile Pepper

Abstract

Fabián García is famous in New Mexico for cross breeding a chile pepper that launched the state’s industry. Yet few people know more than a few details about his life or his tremendous accomplishments as a scientist and horticulturalist. In this talk based upon my book-in-progress, I will explain how García sought to modernize agriculture on both sides of the U.S. Mexico border in an effort to make the desert bloom and provide new economic opportunities in agriculture.

Along with the story of science and a transformed landscape, García story unfolded in the face of racism, discrimination, and xenophobia. As a Mexican-born immigrant who could not read or write English until he was 16 he overcame those challenges with grace and persistence. Ultimately, for his impressive scientific work and agenda to uplift people who shared a similar background as him across the U.S.-Mexico borderlands, I suggest that García should be revered in a similar way as George Washington Carver is revered in the American South.

Author

• Peter A Kopp, University of Colorado Denver