What are possible terrorist threats to agriculture? Does a farmer or retailer or grain elevator in central Kansas really need a security plan? Although destroying a grain elevator may not be a terrorist goal, causing overall damage to the U.S. economy is, and that Kansas elevator may get targeted as a means to the end, answers FBI intelligence operations specialist Gordon Fuller.

Fuller, who previously spent 20 years working for DuPont Company, spoke at a recent seminar on homeland security for the agriculture industry presented by the Mid America CropLife Association in cooperation with CropLife America, The Fertilizer Institute (TFI) and Agricultural Retailers Association.

Fuller and other speakers discussed the reality of threats and steps that have been taken to beef up security along the food chain.

A threat to the security of your business “never seems real,” says Dave Bonderer, co-owner and president of Saale Farm & Grain, West Alton, MO. “Going to a meeting like this makes me more aware.”

Bonderer, who sells seed grain and chemicals and hauls dry and liquid fertilizer from his facility about 35 miles north of St. Louis, participated in a panel presentation on transporting product. Bonderer says he learned from speaker Pamela Guffain, director of government relations for TFI, that he should ask his farmer customers if they have security plans.

“Today was the first I'd heard about it, but I'll take steps to begin,” Bonderer says in response to Guffain's statement that the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) does not exempt farmers from its security rules.

“If a farmer comes to a dealer and picks up hazardous materials requiring a placard, the farmer must have a security plan for the transportation of that product back to his farm,” Guffain says.

Right now, however, a retailer is not required to refuse to load if the farmer or other carrier has no plan. The American Farm Bureau Federation, DOT, USDA and TFI have been working on ways to assist farmers with security plans.

“Our livelihood depends on safety and security,” Bonderer says. That includes protecting against anhydrous ammonia theft.

Among the things retailers can do is to make employees and the community aware of the problem. Tell employees to notice if a stranger is hanging around the facility. Bonderer doesn't sell anhydrous ammonia to anyone he doesn't know.

He explains that all Saale Farm & Grain drivers are screened and take drug tests periodically. All loads are secured and locked with padlocks. Drivers have exact directions to make the product drop-off and are not allowed any unnecessary stops.

Marc Hyland, general manager of Solar Transportation, a hazardous material transporting operation with 97 company drivers, advises retailers to check backgrounds of all employees, not just drivers, for security.

Successful implementation and execution of a security plan requires a buy-in by all employees, Hyland says. Training, as well as security plan revisions, should be ongoing.

“We have to get over the thought that ‘it can't happen here,’” Hyland says. “Terrorism can happen anywhere. It is rehearsed. So don't do the same thing every day.”

Bonderer says he's received some security training and information from his insurance carrier, but, he says, he could use some more help. He has asked the West Alton fire department to drive by Saale Farm & Grain every day. The company holds mock fire drills as well.

The FBI's Fuller has a suggestion: Don't stop at working with the local fire and police department. “Get to know the FBI agent in your community or nearby,” Fuller says. “Ask him to come by.”

And he counsels retailers to advise employees not to be concerned about reporting suspicious activities to the FBI. “Just report it,” he says. “You are our intelligence collection system.”

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