In the first part of this two-part series on strawberries, Sam and Lara interview Dr. Gerald Holmes, director of the Strawberry Center at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. He discusses the challenges that growers face, the costs of producing and harvesting strawberries, the factors that influence the flavor of the berries, and the future of the industry.To learn more about the Strawberry Center at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo go to https://strawberry.calpoly.edu/.For the HortTechnology article "The Status and Future of the Strawberry Industry in the United States" go to https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTTECH04135-18.Learn more about the American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS) at https://ashs.org/.HortTechnology, HortScience and the Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science are all open-access and peer-reviewed journals, published by the American Society of Horticultural Science (ASHS). Find them at journals.ashs.org.Consider becoming an ASHS member at https://ashs.org/page/Becomeamember!You can also find the official webpage for Plants, People, Science at ashs.org/plantspeoplesciencepodcast, and we encourage you to send us feedback or suggestions at https://ashs.org/webinarpodcastsuggestion. To follow Sam Humphrey visit linkedin.com/in/samson-humphrey. Lara Brindisi is on Instagram at @theplantphd and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/larabrindisi/. Thank you for listening!