-- After a warm spring, Oregon strawberries are red, sweet, juicy, two weeks early -- and something of an endangered species.
The Oregon Department of Agriculture says there's been a rapid decline in strawberry acreage and total tonnage statewide since 1950, as foreign countries and California chipped away at the state's share of the market.
That's partly because Oregon strawberries are full of sugar and don't travel well. Other strawberries have greater shelf life and yield per acre, so production cost is lower.
It means that more Oregon strawberry growers will probably turn to smaller markets -- farm stands, specialty stores and U-pick operations.
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Farmer fills up boxes of strawberries during harvest, Pennsylvania, photo