Aired 2007-08. Strong Roots, Fragile Farms Presented by the National Council of Churches USA

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 preserve 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 shed light on the farm crisis through personal stories, profiling farm families in Iowa and North Carolina, the Philippines, Mexico and Africa. We followed the families as they planted crops, cultivated and harvested. They told their own stories and showed us how globalization affects their lives everyday.