Agroterror Threat Changes the Rules

One bioterrorist act could cause grave damage to agribusinesses and, in the worst case scenario, the national economy and even global financial markets.

The stakes are especially high in Arkansas, where U.S. Department of Agriculture economist William Edmonson said the “food and fiber production” industry in 2000 had an $11.2 billion economic impact on the state. That included manufacturing, transportation, value-added services, and wholesale and retail food services related to agriculture.

One sub-sector alone — crops, livestock and other farm products — had 2000 revenue of about $5.8 billion, according to the Arkansas Department of Agriculture. Because Benton and Washington counties are the beef leaders of Arkansas and the poultry capital of the world, the ramifications of agroterrorism here could be staggering.

But germ warfare on commodities wouldn’t have to physically occur within the state’s borders to effect Arkansas’ agribusinesses.

Britain has seen its cattle, sheep and swine industries severely crippled after 2000’s foot-and-mouth outbreak that resulted in the slaughtering of about 4 million animals. The contamination has already cost the Belgian economy $1 billion.

The domino effect reached the United States, where there were bans on imported meat and livestock from the outbreak areas. An outbreak in America would reportedly cost about $140 billion in annual U.S. agricultural exports.

A local meat industry official who asked not to be identified told the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal a similar outbreak in the states could have a catastrophic effect along the lengthy chain that starts with the farmer and ends with the consumer.

“I guess if [terrorists] wanted to get mad cow disease started they’d get their cells over here to get it in the feed lots,” he said. “Let’s say we had 20 cases of mad cow disease over here and all were isolated. Would you keep eating beef? To me it’s like hit and run. The consumption of beef over here would go to hell even if there were only five cases and all of them were isolated. You don’t have to infect 50 percent of the cattle. If people quit eating with only five cows infected, why waste your time with 5,000?

“And if a guy in a crop duster flies over a corn field and puts a [biological agent] on the corn, people are going to stop eating corn. Terrorism is scaring people. [Osama] bin Laden loves this anthrax deal. There are 260 million people in the U.S. and only a few have died from it, but it’s got everybody scared.”

In fact, thousands of people die each year from the flu, but people still work in the same offices where they know people are sick with flu-like symptoms. But a bioterrorism threat can shut down multi-story buildings for days.

There has yet to be any reported agricultural threats following the recent terrorist acts in the states, but should any occur, the most likely fatality would be businesses rather than human life. Almost everything that grows is susceptible to hosting some sort of biological agent. If an outbreak occurs, the farmers will suffer greatly because no one will want to buy the food until the scare is long gone. And if the consumers aren’t buying the food, the stores aren’t selling those products.

“That’s why President [George] Bush told everyone to keep spending money,” said the meat industry official. “We can’t stop any sector out there or everyone gets hurt.”

What’s at Stake

Arkansas is one of only six states where farm and farm-related jobs comprise one fifth of its total employment. That’s according to a 1997 article in Rural America Magazine, a quarterly trade publication of the USDA’s Economic Research Service. It came out the last time the figures were available, and tallied 293,020 farm and farm-related jobs in Arkansas.

In the state’s northwest corner, agribusiness is even more concentrated.

Springdale’s Tyson Foods Inc. now has 28 percent of the beef market, 23 percent of the chicken market and 18 percent of the pork market in the states after its recent $4.6 billion purchase of IBP Inc. Tyson is the world’s leading producer and marketer of chicken and poultry products. IBP is the world’s leading producer of fresh meat. And the company is also big in corn and flour tortilla products.

Fort Smith’s OK Foods Inc., George’s Inc. of Springdale, Peterson Farms Inc. of Decatur and both Simmons Foods Inc. and Allen Canning Co. of Siloam Springs are just some of the others that could be greatly affected by agroterrorism. There are 48,000 farms in Arkansas. And everyone from the meat brokerage companies in Northwest Arkansas to the area’s large trucking firms, which transport much of the meat products, could take a hit.

But that’s just the beginning.

Bruce Dixon is a professor of agricultural economics in the University of Arkansas’ Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences and a professor of economics in the Walton College of Business. He said the effects of an agroterrorist or bioterrorist attack on the nation could reach much farther than the agribusiness sector.

“You’re also talking about financial industry companies that supply capital to agribusinesses,” Dixon said. “You’re talking about landlords, chemical companies, state and federal social services because of lost jobs, the Medicaid system…

“An attack on part of the food system that had prolonged effects would mean a major reallocation of capital and labor that would affect multiple sectors of the economy.”

Security Issues

The poultry industry, perhaps more so than any other meat industry, has always taken precautions on protecting its products from the egg to the slaughterhouse.

“Biosecurity has always been important to us,” said Tyson spokesman Ed Nicholson. “We are like the rest of the country in that we are approaching all of our business with a heightened measure of awareness.”

Dick Lobb, director of communications for the National Chicken Council, feels quite confident the poultry industry would be protected from terrorists.

“First of all, there’s no reason believe we’re any great target,” Lobb said. “But there have been discussions with some industry officials on the subject. And they’ve taken the appropriate steps.”

The poultry industry could bounce back much quicker if such an attack occurred than the beef industry. While there are numerous viruses that can wipe out an entire poultry house, it only takes about 48 days for a new flock of chickens to fill in the void. Breeding hens can lay eggs on a daily basis. Therefore, the breeder stock would be the most ideal target for terrorists to infect.

Fortunately, breeder stock specialists like Cobb-Vantress of Siloam Springs, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tyson, already have very stringent security measures in place. Employees in one area of Cobb-Vantress can’t get into another area of the plant.

But cattle are obviously very different in that they usually roam several acres unwatched. The average Arkansas farm has 304 acres.

Also, a cow’s gestation period is more than nine months and a calf must be more than a year old before it can be bred. So the turnaround, should a cattle farm be infected through bioterrorism, would make detection and control extremely difficult for farmers.

Dianne Hellwig, assistant professor of veterinary medicine at the UA, said there are obviously some things a farmer just can’t do in protecting his livestock, such as keeping birds, rodents and dogs off the land. But she said there are steps that should be taken that will lessen the chances for deadly bacteria to infiltrate the family farm.

“If someone comes to your farm you want to know where they’ve been,” Hellwig said.

She said poultry, cattle and swine farms have feed and other animals delivered on a regular basis. If the delivery person has been around other infected animals, Hellwig said not to let that person near your livestock.

“Carefully screen everyone,” Hellwig said. “And when feed trucks deliver feed to the farms, ask if those trucks are rinsed off from one farm to another. They should be doing that anyway for biosecurity. And if you have visitors like service people for poultry houses, make sure they wear plastic disposable boots or make them scrub their boots from one farm to another. And when you buy animals from a sale barn, they shouldn’t mix with their other animals immediately. You should be looking for anything suspicious.”

Probable Targets

Greg Weidemann, interim dean of the Bumpers College, said the UA is being particularly careful about who visits its facilities.

“We ask everybody where they’ve been lately,” Weidemann said. “If they just came in from England a few days ago, they’re not going in our facilities.”

University of Georgia Agriculture Dean Gale Buchanan is part of an association of academics that has formed a task force on the issue the possibility of agroterrorism. He told the Associated Press, “Agriculture is vulnerable. There’s no way you can put guards around fields or animals.”

But Hellwig said she thinks the family farm would be an unlikely target for terrorist to sabotage.

“What I picture happening if there was such an act would be at a livestock facility or expedition or show,” she said. “[Terrorists] would get more bang for their buck because those animals are dispersed all over the place when it’s over.”

Other targets could be the large cattle feedlots of Nebraska and Kansas.

In a recent letter to President George W. Bush, American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman noted his concern that agroterrorism is a real threat.

“As the nation and the world prepare to embark on a war against terrorism there are concerns and speculation regarding how agriculture and other sectors of the economy will be affected,” Stallman stated.

“An attack aimed at the safety of our food supply and agricultural infrastructure could cause widespread and long-term damage. We must continue to increase surveillance and ensure that adequate USDA resources are available to combat any posed biological threat or mobilize against any occurrence.”