Food for Thought

Intelligence indicates that terrorists have discussed vulnerabilities in various components of the agriculture sector. Food and agriculture is an attractive target to terrorists, because many agents are easy to obtain; minimal technology is required to execute an attack, and our food travels across the country and world quickly and efficiently. An agroterrorism attack would impact the most basic of human needs: The food we eat. Furthermore, the food and agricultural sector is critically important to our Nation's economy. U.S. food and agriculture accounts for roughly one-fifth of the Nation's economic activity, contributing $835 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product in 2014, and is responsible for 1 out of every 12 U.S. jobs. An intentional attack on, or natural disruption of U.S. agriculture, or food, would present a serious threat to this Nation and cause major economic damage on a number of levels. There will be costs related to containing disease, and destruction of livestock, compensating farmers for loss of agriculture commodities, and losses in other related industries, and trade embargoes imposed by other nations.