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Senators hold agro-terrorism discussion in KC

The message from a discussion on agro-terrorism is to “be prepared.”  Senate Ag Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R) of Kansas equates a secure food system to national security.  Roberts – speaking at a roundtable discussion on agro-terrorism Friday – says the consequences of any threat to the U.S. food supply have to be mitigated through research, prevention and preparedness,  “The devastating ramifications of being ill-prepared for a malicious attack or a natural disaster on our food supply would be absolutely overwhelming. We’ve had several exercises to prove that.”

Roberts and Senator Claire McCaskill (D) of Missouri led the discussion with several stakeholders ranging from university experts to military personnel.  Following the hour-long discussion, McCaskill told media that progress has been made, but, using the example of animal disease prevention, she says there’s work to be done, “Developing the vaccines is not enough. We’ve got to figure out when they should be used and how they should be deployed and how that actually occurs.”  Roberts says he wants to avoid scaring people with the discussion.  He says the problem is not immediate, but, in his words, you never know.