In the heart of a southern Indiana cantaloupe field, where crushed melons rot in the heat and sweat bees cling to skin, a line of men work in more than 80-degree temperatures. Most wear simple straw hats to shield them from the sun. One wears an “Indiana Hoosiers” shirt. They move ripe cantaloupes from ground to truck like a human assembly line, tossing two melons at a time to the next man in line, then step forward when the fruits in that row have been harvested.

The men are all from Mexico, but for a season they live in Vincennes, Indiana, following the promise of work that will help them feed their families back home. The melons they plant, harvest and process are shipped to stores across the country, where millions of pounds of fruit with “Mouzin Brothers Farm” stickers are sold.

The

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