Access Control
& Security Systems

Tim Hammonds, president and CEO of the Food Marketing Institute, believes agricultural economists have much to add to the current discussions of food security and agricultural policy.

To help agencies collaborate with the food retailers in close contact with agricultural producers, Hammonds and the leadership of the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) is working with the FBI to create the Food Industry Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC). ISAC allows federal agencies to take information they have learned and distribute it to food industry members to determine if it represents a viable threat to food security and American agriculture.

"There was a lot of activity in Washington, D.C., after Sept. 11," Hammonds stated in his keynote address, given July 28 at the annual meeting of the American Agricultural Economics Association in Long Beach, Calif. "The FDA, the USDA, and the Office of Homeland Security all had different plans for food security but they weren't sharing these plans with each other."

"Agriculture is especially vulnerable as an economic target," Hammonds continued, "but no one should underestimate the level of preparedness of the food industry against an attack."

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