MONMOUTH – Pick-your-own remains the leading method of selling strawberries, but consumer-convenient methods of peddling the crop are gaining ground as fewer people set out to fill their containers.

That’s why many pick-your-own farms are emphasizing the seasonal experience rather than the berries these days.

The idea is to have a fun outing, not necessarily to collect as many quarts of strawberries as possible, David Handley of the University of Maine’s Cooperative Extension Service, said.

Sheila Schartner of Schartner Farms in Thorndike and her husband, Herb, plant 20 acres of strawberries each year, and they sell 70 percent of the harvest through farmer’s markets. Pick-your-own, in contrast, accounts for 5 percent of sales, she said.

“People are getting lazier,” she said. “It is a matter of convenience now. We have become very spoiled as Americans.”

Charles “Chuck” Underwood of Underwood Strawberry Farm in Benton tells a similar story. But in his case, the percentage of pick-your-own on his 7-acre farm is more sizable.

The pick-your-own business accounts for about a third of his strawberry sales. Underwood attributes the percentage to the farm’s location on a fairly well traveled road near Winslow and Waterville. Schartner Farms, in contrast, is more rural and gets far less drive-by traffic.

Many farmers are taking advantage of farmers’ markets to sell their product. More than 50 can now be found in the state, and the number increases each year.