Farmers learn about potential Agri-terrorism

About 100 Iowa farmers sat through a session on agri-terrorism yesterday. Charlie Norris, who farms near Mason City, says the forum at the Iowa Farm Bureau’s annual convention is proof times have really changed.Norris says farmers used to worry about kids mowing down corn with a four-wheel drive or a drunken driver mowing down a fence. Now, Norris says farmers are a bit shell-shocked about the idea terrorists might strike at farms or the food supply. Iowa Homeland Security Director Ellen Gordon says her staff is developing plans to prevent an attack, and respond if one happens. She says it’s not realistic in all cases that everything can be protected. Gordon says with that being the case, the state needs to know how to respond. But Iowa Farm Bureau commodity services director Dave Miller says there’s no need to get too worried the nation’s food supply can easily be compromised. Miller says if terrorists attacked Iowa’s largest grain elevator, that’d destroy less than one-hundredth of one percent of the nation’s grain supply.