Aired 2002-03. ”Strong Roots, Fragile Farms" will give insight on a nation blessed with the finest cropland on earth. Here in the United States, family farmers employ people, allow local businesses to thrive and are more ecologically friendly to the environment than large, industrial farms. Yet a growing crisis reveals farmers struggling to hold on to their farms, and farming families in a financial struggle to perserve a tradition for the next generation. Although the food situation in the U.S. is better than almost any other nation, family farms are dying. American farmers are not the only ones struggling to stay alive. Globalization of farming is a worldwide problem that impacts us all. This documentary will shed light on the farm crisis through personal stories, profiling farm families in Iowa and North Carolina, the Philippines, Mexico and Africa. We will follow the families as they plant crops, cultivate and harvest. They will tell their own stories and show us how globalization affects their lives everyday.