Essay
Strawberries bouy the agricultural community

New strawberry plants are put in from the end of September through October. Harvesting occurs from December through July in Ventura County, which produces more than 27 percent of California's strawberries. Peak harvesting season runs from April through June, when up to 10 million pint baskets of strawberries are shipped on a daily basis.

California is the largest strawberry producing state and harvests 83 percent of the strawberries grown in the United States.

The ideal temperature for strawberry plants should not exceed 78 degrees or go lower than 55 degrees.

Traditionally, every strawberry plant is handpicked approximately once every three days to allow time for strawberries to complete their growth cycle, turning from green to white to red.

There is no longterm storage of fresh strawberries. Immediately after harvest, berries are rushed to coolers where huge fans extract the field heat. The fruit is then delivered to restaurants and supermarkets across the country via refrigerated trucks.

- Sebastian Ramirez