Workers for the Mexican consulate in Fresno become farmworkers for a day to learn what it is like

FIREBAUGH, Calif. (KFSN) -- If you've ever worked in a field, picking fruits or vegetables, you know just how hard the job is. For a group of people in a field of cantaloupes it's their first day on the job.

"It's really, really, hot. I'm sweating," said Yesenia Villanueva, Mexican Consulate.

No matter how hot it gets they have to keep up, because there is no time to fall behind. Villanueva is catching on. Her hands are getting dirty in Firebaugh but normally, they're in the office of the Mexican consulate in Fresno. The keyboards don't compare to the crops.

"The heat, the sweating, the constantly bending over, the back pain-- yeah."

"This is real work. Sitting in an air conditioned room-- no, that ain't nothing," said Ernie Love, farmworker.

Ernie love is out there every day working for $10.50 an hour to feed his family.

"What we do right here, hard labor," said Love.

Those who were there for the first time completed one row-- 1,800 feet of picking and boxing fruit.

"We lasted an hour and a half-- maybe," said Santiago Cortes, Console for Protection and Legal Affairs.

"I can only imagine what it is, every day, all day," said Villanueva.

A short shift, but it was enough to gain an understanding. Many of the workers are the same people the consulate serves and for that, Joe Del Bosque is thankful because it is his farm.

"If it helps them to have a better relationship with the consulate, I think it's a great thing."

They parted ways by noon with a new bond and some new knowledge.

"Every time I go buy fruit or anything I'm gonna know what it is, the hands that actually picked it," said Villanueva.

Knowing what it takes to get fruit from the field to the table.