Introduction
Bell and chile peppers are members of the same plant family as tomatoes, eggplant, and potatoes. They are unrelated to the spice pepper plant that produces the seasoning ground black pepper. The most popular mild peppers are the bell and banana varieties. There are many types and varieties of chile (hot) peppers with varying degree of pungency or “hotness.” U.S. consumption of fresh bell peppers averaged 10.6 pounds per person and 7.2 pounds per person of chile peppers in 2014. (ERS 2014).

Bell peppers color up as they ripen on the vine and follow the mature green stage. The brighter colored peppers tend to be sweeter than green peppers because the sugar content increases as the pepper matures. Bell peppers are high in vitamin C. Peppers are also excellent sources of dietary fiber and provide small amounts of several other vitamins and minerals.
Marketing
Produced and marketed year round, bell peppers are usually sold as fresh produce.
Production
The majority of bell peppers produced in the United States are still grown in the field using drip irrigation and mulch. In addition to field-grown peppers, smaller volumes of domestically-produced, greenhouse-grown bell peppers are also available throughout the year. A typical field of fresh-market peppers is harvested by hand every week or so over the course of about four to six weeks.

Most of the crop is sold as mature green peppers, but growers receive a premium for a limited amount of other colors. The premium reflects the fact that bright-colored bell peppers (red, yellow, orange, purple, brown and black) are more costly to produce (field losses are higher and yields are lower) than those harvested at the green stage.

In 2014 1,535 million pounds of bell peppers for fresh market and processing were grown on approximately 46,500 acres with a crop valued at $618.19 million. Chile pepper production for fresh market and processing in 2014 was 463 million pounds on 19,100 acres, valued at $216.1 million (ERS, 2015). Although peppers are grown on a large number of farms across the U.S., California produced 60 and 69 percent of the bell peppers and chile peppers, respectively, grown in the U.S. in 2014.
The average yield of bell peppers and chile peppers in 2014 was 33,000 pounds/ acre and chile peppers averaged 24,200 pounds per acre with a wide range across the county between 5,500 to 38,500 pounds per acre.
Prices
In 2014, the average national price for bell peppers was $40.30 per hundredweight and $46.70 for chile peppers (NAAS, 2015).
Financials
Based on most recent production and price averages, the estimated gross value per acre is approximately $13,300 for bell and $11,300 for chile peppers. The costs of production of peppers are expensive for inputs, such as transplants, mulch and irrigation, and labor-intensive, especially for harvest and post-harvest handling and packaging.