As these farmworkers' children seek a different future, who will pick the crops?

Paola Mendoza, the daughter of farmworkers, says her parents didn't want her to join them in the fields. She's now in college, studying to be a teacher. (Mike Kane for NPR)

TOPPENISH, Wash. — By 6 in the morning, Paola Mendoza has pulled her hair back under a baseball cap and donned a long-sleeved sweatshirt to report to her summer job on a farm in Washington's Yakima Valley, known for its apples, pears and hops.

Mendoza is not there to pick fruits or vegetables. She's a research intern working on a project to improve irrigation systems. She spends her days staking the fields and collecting samples alongside her boss, Alan Schreiber, who also employs her mother.