SALISBURY, NC--What do you get when you bring together science, farming and culinary arts? A sweeter, juicier North Carolina strawberry.

"We're very particular about a strawberry, we want for it to be real sweet, not sweet like sugar, we want it to have a little twang to it," said Joe Hampton the superintendent of the Piedmont Research Station.

Johnson and Wales University along with NC State are breeding what they call the ultimate berry at the North Carolina Research campus in Kannapolis. "That's what Dr. Pattison, he's somewhat like a cook in that he mixes a little bit of this, a little bit of that to come up with a cake," said Hampton.

The "cake" is the ideal fruit--that's not only top notch quality but berries that can sustain themselves through the year. The goal of the NC strawberry project is to find the good and the bad ways to breed a North Carolina strawberry, all information that's vital to area farmers.

North Carolina ranks 4th in the nation in strawberry production and brings in nearly 21 million dollars each year. Experts hope to grow that by one-fourth. "We want to have the biggest the best, the prettiest, the most flavorful strawberry on the market," said Doug Patterson who has been farming strawberries for decades.

The season lasts from mid April to mid June. "We've got a lot of money invested in this crop if we have a string of bad weather for a couple of weeks even for three weeks that could take all of our profits away," said Patterson.

With the strawberry project that season could last almost the entire year. Not only would it lower the risk for farmers it would mean local stores wouldn't have to import berries from other states. "There's a lot of cost in shipping the berries but if we can extend our season we can grow these berries cheaper" said Patterson. A victory for the farmer, and consumer's wallets.