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Agrosecurity

The threat to agricultural security can come in many forms: natural, accidental and intentional. Agriculture and its related industries are certainly susceptible to sabotage from terrorists, disgruntled employees or others intent on doing harm through the nation's food supply. But just as deadly are losses due to natural disasters and accidents. A well educated industry, employees and emergency response teams can minimize the threat and the damage.

The UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences has taken on a major role in training throughout the state on agrosecurity issues. Other related activities include an international web network to identify invasive species, education of a largely Hispanic workforce in the Green Industry, cutting the incidence of salmonella and fighting insect pests in urban settings.

Impact Statements

Review these reports on agrosecurity issues from CAES faculty in research, teaching and Extension. For more reports, visit the searchable database.

2012 Reports

• Crisis Communication Training
• Nutrition Education

2011 Reports

• Disaster Preparedness
• Food Defense
• Improve seed health testing
• Bugwood Image Database

2010 Reports

• Human Emotions Study
• Improving access to information
• The Midgut Endocrine System
• Diagnosing plant diseases
• Food and Agricultural Defense

2009 Reports

• Food Emergency Response Plan
• Animal Disaster Plan
• Depopulating small poultry flocks

2008 Reports

• Enhancing Georgia
• Food Handlers Learn to ServSafe®
• Seed health testing

2007 Reports

• Local Emergency Planning
• Agrosecurity Training for Poultry Producers
• Agrosecurity Certificate Program

Georgia FACES Articles

Here's just a sample of agrosecurity issues in the news generated by the college. For the latest news, visit Georgia FACES.

• UGA trained Agribusiness Development Team deploys to Afghanistan
  January 7, 2013 - The Georgia National Guard’s Agribusiness Development Team III left Georgia this week for Indiana, on their way to a year-long deployment to Afghanistan.
• Gabon and Georgia strike a deal to foster agricultural development
  November 28, 2012 - The government of Gabon has tapped Georgia’s agricultural experts to help the central African nation develop a more self-sufficient agricultural system.
• Georgia Guardsmen return to UGA to present base flag
  June 4, 2012 - The Georgia National Guard’s Agribusiness Development Team I will be on the University of Georgia campus June 11 at 2 p.m. to present the faculty of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences with a UGA flag that was flown over their base in Logar Province in Afghanistan.
• The new agrarian economy
  April 20, 2011 - A report this week from the Foreign Agricultural Service and the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council shows U.S. poultry meat exports in February increased by 15 percent in quantity and nearly 18 percent in value over the same month last year. This signals an improvement in the world economy, but also shows the value of our ports and agriculture’s driving force to improve our economic situation.
• Bananas breaking barriers in Georgia
  December 16, 2010 - When most people think of bananas hanging from a branch, they picture tropical places. A University of Georgia researcher wants them to start associating Georgia with the popular fruit, and he’s found a new variety to help do that.
• Ag Futures: local food, biofuels distract from global food needs
  October 7, 2010 - Jean Kinsey suggested her 2010 D.W. Brooks Lecture might well have been titled “A Tale of Two Food Cultures.” Her talk this week in Athens, Ga., on “Feeding Billions: Local Solutions or Global Distributions” concluded that sustainably feeding the world will require both.

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