‘Scared of crossing the border’: The Arizona farmers who rely on Mexican workers

A melon in one hand and a machete in the other, John Boelts squints at the fruit, carves off a hunk and pops it in his mouth. Out in his sprawling fields in Yuma, Arizona, he knows how to spot a ripe cantaloupe. Even in early October, the temperature still reaches 43°C (109°F) in the region after having soared to a scorching 47°C at the start of September – well above the seasonal average. The harvest begins next week. “The melons are starting to pull sugar, they are getting ready,” he said, dressed in jeans and a pristine checkered shirt. “Once they're ready to harvest, you typically have about two days to get the melons harvested and off the vine.” Last spring, this race against the clock took a heavy toll. Even as the produce stood ripe in the fields, the Mexican labourers he had hired to bring in the crop still hadn’t received their working visas. They finally arrived, six days late. Farmer John Boelts inspects a melon in his fields in Wellton, Arizona, October 15, 2026. © Barbara Gabel, FRANCE 24 They lost most of two or three fields, he said, adding that it could have cost him as much as $100,000. “Those fields were the fields we probably could have made the most money off of...