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SOGGY STRAWBERRIES
Weekends rains nearly wipe out crop
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Strawberry farmer Sai Saelee who grows strawberries with his wife Pham Saechao at a field on West Yosemite Avenue west of McKinley Avenue shows a few of the rain-damaged fruit that had to be thrown away. Close to 90 percent of the crop had to be thrown away due to the recent rains. - photo by ROSE ALBANO RISSO/Bulletin Correspondent
While many area residents were grateful for the recent rains in the wake of record-setting drought in California, Manteca-Lathrop strawberry farmers were downcast. The steady rainfall over the weekend resulted in devastating losses for farmers like Sai Saelee and wife Pham Saechao who saw up to 90 percent of their water-logged juicy red crop wasted. “You can see how much we threw away,” said a downcast Sai as he cast a worried look at the spaces between the rows of fruit-bearing strawberries littered with the damaged crop.