U.S. agriculture is not immune to threat.

• Position: Terrorism

Although U.S. agriculture is not likely to rate high on a terrorist's hit list, farmers shouldn't grow complacent, faculty members at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., warn. The industry is too large and geographically decentralized to take down, and an attack on agriculture probably wouldn't provide terrorists the shocking images Americans witnessed on Sept. 11. However, internationally contaminating even a portion of the nation's food supply could have serious economic repercussions.

"Most of the people that I talk to in the industry believe agriculture is not the sexy target a terrorist group would want to go after," points out Steve Cain, a Purdue Extension communication specialist. "Flying a plane into a building, a dirty bomb in a city, destroying a nuclear power plant--those are the kinds of things that people tend to say a terrorist would want to go after. But strategists also look at the fact that, if a country were going to declare war on the United States, it would go after the economy. And affecting agriculture in the United States is a big part of our economy."

The numbers are staggering. According to the Department of Agriculture, there are more than 2,160,000 farms in America, representing 941,200,000 acres. Annual U.S. farm cash receipts top $193,000,000,000. Despite the size and scope of the industry, farmers and those who work with them understand the terrorist threat exists, maintains Cain, who heads Purdue's involvement in the nationwide Extension Disaster Education Network (EDEN) program to prepare agriculture for disasters, including those caused by terrorists.

EDEN conducted a homeland security survey of 1,200 extension educators across the country. More than 85% said they expect a...