US: strawberry fields are overflowing
A mild Winter is throwing off strawberry season

Farmers are saying that the unseasonably high temperatures are causing a strawberry surplus in fields all over California. Workers are not due for a couple of weeks to pick all the strawberries popping up.

Strawberries that arrived in markets this week were not cheap, and finding a ripe one was rare. But that's not going to be a problem anymore. "If everything proceeds the way it is right now, it looks like there may be an oversupply of strawberries," says Samir Fadel, a strawberry seller.

The unusually warm Winter is causing berries to blossom earlier than expected, creating a surplus that is good for consumers, but bad for farmers. A surplus drives down prices, and makes it harder for farmers to sell during a time when strawberries are not in high demand.

And too many berries in the stores mean that they are rotting at the packing plant. Only real Winter weather can stop the strawberry surplus. Farmers are hoping for rain and cold weather in the next couple weeks to extend the harvest.

"We don't want everybody harvesting at the same time, but too much good weather can be a bad thing," says Dave Peck, a strawberry farmer. This season is a stark difference from last year's, when strawberries were stalled for a few weeks from heavy rain storms drenching the Central Coast.

Its been said that farmers in Oxnard of Ventura County, and in Watsonville of Monterey County are already picking strawberries.

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