Agrosecurity
Agrosecurity Certificate Program
Disruption of the food supply would destabilize the government, label the U.S. as a non-secure provider of food products, impact international trade and trade balance, and cause social unrest. Industry and the Department of Homeland Security need trained people with strategic thinking skills capable of diagnosing and averting potential problems. A UGA crop and soil scientist helped develop three agricultural security courses to provide a core for an Agrosecurity Certificate program. These courses are designed to provide insight to the vulnerabilities of the agricultural infrastructure and how to respond to an incident. They include an issues course to keep the students relevant and current with issues of today. The Agrosecurity Certificate program will provide trained individuals for industry and government agencies to develop secure food processing sites, food entry sites, border security, incident responses and terrorist intervention.
Sources: Nicholas Hill, Crop and Soil Sciences; Ronald Silcox, Animal and Dairy Science; and Sarah Workman, Office of Global Programs (2007)