Since the 1620s, farmers on Virginia's Eastern Shore have used alien workers to harvest their crops: Indentured servants, African slaves, World War II POWs, and most recently black and Latino migrants all have picked the region's fruits and vegetables by hand. But now increased competition from Mexican crops, made cheaper by international trade agreements such as NAFTA, is causing a switch from hand-picked crops like tomatoes and cucumbers to mechanically harvested grains, which require far fewer farm workers and harvest laborers. In the process, the change is also altering the social structure and racial composition of the region.