US: Growing strawberries requires human touch

When many people think of farming, they think of dirt, sprinklers, tractors and rows of green crops. But farmers think beyond just the plants and the soil and the equipment: growing strawberries in California takes plenty of people, too. While many crops have found ways to mechanize various planting, cultivating and harvesting operations, strawberry plants are still planted by hand, and strawberry fruit are hand-picked and hand-packed in the field. This creates a large number of jobs for people and it creates a large need for training and education.

Grower education has always been a key component of the services provided to strawberry farmers by the California Strawberry Commission. Many field days and meetings are focused on disseminating research findings and information, providing dialogue between the field scientists and the farmers. The scientists and the farmers learn from each other: actual experiments are often placed in farmers' fields, allowing the research staff and the farmers to exchange observations and ideas about the project over the course of the growing season.

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