Abstract

Agriculture is an attractive target for terrorist attacks and should be of the highest concern for the national security of any country. An attack on crops would be rather simple to plan and carry-out. In the United States, agriculture is particularly vulnerable due to the amount of centralization in the industry. In fact, plans to attack the agricultural sector were found in the caves and safe houses of members of al Qaeda in Afghanistan. A terrorist attack would not only jeopardize the food security of the country but also have economic, social, and political implications as well. The protection of the US and global food supply will be substantially enhanced if agricultural food production is decentralized and if food distribution is local and sustainable. This paper examines previous attacks on the global agricultural sector, public policies that are used to protect agriculture from attacks, how these policies can be changed to reduce the probability of an attack, and then offer possible solutions to the threat of an agro-terrorist event.