Is Agricultural Terrorism in the US a Threat?

Agricultural terrorism is not as large as a threat in the United States as it could be with other countries. The location of the United States in the Western Hemisphere would require terrorist groups to travel across oceans and across other 'barrier' countries such as Mexico or Canada in order to attack the bread basket of the Middle United States. Not only would this trip require technological expertise, but the mass deployment of agent to destroy crops would require technologically advanced aerosol disbursements. This technology is out of reach of the average transnational terrorist organization. The majority of examples of successful agro-terrorism have been state sponsored and occurred during times of war. Many states have the technology to conduct a large scale attack and also the capability to control or restrict trade with other countries. Since much of the United States food supply originates from South and Central America, trade with these countries would have ot be restricted and this is beyond most terror organizations.

With the current world economic situation, the United States is still a very wealthy nation. If there was a shortage of food in the United State due to a terror attack, the United States would offer more money than other countries to import foreign food supplies. This is turn would create a shortage of the food supply in the most needed countries, thus undermining the intentions of the terrorist. Also an attack on the American food supply would decrease American exports and decreasing the world supply of food. This would only damage the most needy countries. The world saw a small effect of this when America increased the demand for ethanol, this increase demand increased corn prices. Mexican farmers sold corn to ethanol producers and not to food processors hence causing a food shortage in Mexico.

It is also difficult to determine if a disease in nature is from a terrorist attack or whether it is naturally occurring. This is contrary to the majority of terrorist actions. Most terrorists seek publicity in order to create fear and sway public opinion. But if a rise in mad cow disease or anthrax starts occurs, it would be close to impossible to trace it back to a specific terrorist. Moreover, if the attack is successful and a major portion of the food supply is affected, what terrorist organization would publically state "we caused this and it is effecting even the poorest of countries worldwide?" So it would be on the shoulders of the US Government to successfully trace the attack, which would be close to impossible to complete.

References:

Ban, J. (2000). Agricultural Biological Warfare: An Overview.

Stern, J. (1999). The Prospect of Domestic Bioterrorism. Emerging Infectious Diseases, vol 5, no 4, July 1999. Retrieved 30 July 2010.

Kortepeter, M. & Parker, G. (1999). Potential Biological Weapons Threats. Emerging Infectious Diseases, vol 5, no 4, July 1999. Retrieved 30 July 2010.