Watermelon seeds are planted in a greenhouse where they will be allowed to grow for a few weeks.

The watermelon plants grow for a month or two before being sent to farms where they will be transplanted into the fields.

Melon plants are placed in the ground by workers riding special contraptions pulled behind a tractor.

Most of the manual labor in the field is handled by migrant workers who are in the U.S. on temporary agricultural permits.

Crews begin picking watermelons early in the morning.

A cutting crew decides what melons are ready to be picked the day before picking crews arrive.

The grueling job of harvesting melons from the field involves tossing one melon at a time through a human conveyor system.

The melons are loaded onto old school buses that have been converted into haulers.

Workers methodically make their way down each row and back, loading the watermelons into special haulers.

Graded melons make their way through the conveyor system to be labled before being packed.

Once the melons are labeled, they are loaded into crates that will be shipped to retailers across the country.

Nothing beats the sweet taste of a succulent watermelon during the hot summer months.