SPRINGFIELD - Strawberry farmers got their first look at their crop after the ice storm hit Louisiana last week.

"I was fearing it would be a little worse than what it is, but we are still going to lose 30-35 percent of our crop right now," Trey Harris of Harris Farms in Springfield said.

Harris has about 140,000 strawberry plants, on his nine-acre farm, where his crew began picking berries for the first time since the freezing weather came through.

The berries were covered with two layers of canvas tarps to protect them from the cold weather.

"The ice, the sleet, it destroyed a lot of the berries because they have been under the covers for 6 to 7 days," Harris said.

Harris has already tossed out hundreds of pounds of berries damaged during the ice storm.

"It's in mother nature's hands. We will come back strong. It's been hard for all of us farmers," Harris said.

The peak of the strawberry season doesn't start until mid-April, giving strawberry farmers time to salvage their season.