I grew up with one of my parents always working pretty much seven days a week sometimes, and I was off with babies that are at school, but yeah, they've always been farm workers, and that's pretty much all I've ever seen them do.

Decades ago, whole families of farm workers would come to the US. The majority of them were from Mexico, like Palo's family. They'd often follow a seasonal route from Texas through California, and eventually make their way to Washington.

That's where Palo's parents eventually decided to settle down.

I was too young to see it, but even when I grew up, seeing them get home from work all tired, and like kind of just got home, shower, and like, I mean lunch, I went to sleep there, it was really tiring and exhausted.

That it will be, say, like, we don't want you to end up here because it's tiring, and like, you kind of live your years out in the field and it's exhausting over a long period of time, your body just kind of gives up.

So from when she was young, her parents were clear about one thing. They did not want her to follow in their footsteps.

They were working so hard to provide us with what they didn't have, so we didn't have to end up in the future ending up like them and working in the fields every day all day. They wanted better for me and my siblings.

Palo is working on the farm this summer, but she's not there to pick fruits or vegetables. She's a research intern, which her parents are okay with. She's working on a project to improve irrigation systems.

This fall she'll enter her senior year of college, where she's studying to be a teacher.

Most of my friends don't work out in agriculture. They're out like in stores or anything related to that. I'm working here so I can make money, pay my college and move on.

When Palo is staking the fields and collecting samples, she's doing it alongside her boss, Alan Schreiber. Her mother, Patricia, has worked on Alan's farm for more than 20 years, planting and harvesting crops.

Schreiber says Palo's family is pretty representative of farm worker families in the US, and it's left him worried about where he's going to find enough workers to keep his farm going.

My workforce is a little like me. It's getting a little older, it's getting a little stiffer, and it's starting to have some medical issues. None of our farm workers want their children to be farm workers, and our farm worker force is aging out.

For farmers across America, finding enough labor has become a top concern, and because of tighter border control since 9-11, there's been fewer migrants coming in, and many of those who have settled want more for their kids.

The shortage has implications for all of us who enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables, and it is a major agricultural challenge.

Coming up, we hear from farm workers about their experiences, and we discuss the challenges facing Congress when it comes to regulating agricultural labor.

From NPR, I'm Scott Detro. It's Sunday, July 30.

It's considered this from NPR. As we said, there's a labor shortage on farms in the US, and this has huge agricultural implications.

The Mexican workers who came to the US decades ago to pick crops are aging, and their children and grandchildren are finding opportunities in other sectors.

And this all raises questions over who is supposed to replace them.

I spoke with NPR's Hemenna Bastillo, who reports on food and farm policy, and NPR's Andrea Xu, who covers labor.

This summer, they visited some farms to see how all of this is playing out, and I asked Hemenna to start by telling me where they went.

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