It is 7 a.m., and a golden sunrise paints the floor of a small, two-bedroom home where seven migrant workers shrug off sleep and head one mile down the road to Knott Farms LLC, a modest plot of 4,000 acres teeming with tobacco plants.
“Without them, this farm would not survive,” says Donnie Knott, one of the five brothers who manage the farm.
For the past four years, the Mexican men have worked together; planting, harvesting and shucking tobacco stalks for 10 hours a day, six days a week, while listening to Spanish rap or talking about their loved ones back home.
They have developed a bond with each other that many would see and consider as being a family. They live together, they sleep together, they cook together and they shares stories together. Raphael Moreno, one of the migrants from Michoacan, says, “Yes, I see them as my brothers, and I love them.”
In fact, three of the seven workers are the Moreno brothers: Gabriel, 32, the oldest; Raphael, 24; and Miguel, 23. There is Moreno Hernandez, 67, and his son, Moreno Ortiz, 43, from Acambaro. Lastly there are Fernando Gomez, 43, from Mexico City, and Serafin Aguilar, 43, from Jerecuaro.
When not working in the field or in a barn, they like to cook, talk to their families by telephone, watch Spanish television and make origami using dollar bills.
The seven workers will continue to work the farm for the next few weeks before heading back home to take care of their families and children.
