WASHINGTON — More funding and research is needed to secure the United States’ agriculture system against threats, Alabama university experts told Congressman Dale Strong’s subcommittee recently.

In a first for the school, Alabama A&M University President Daniel Wims appeared before a House Homeland Security subcommittee to discuss agroterrorism, which is a deliberate attempt to destroy or harm a food supply. An agroterrorism event in the United States could cost as much as $106 billion today, Wims said.

“Defending access to American abundance and preserving the American experiment is the essence of agro security, and it’s why farm security is national security,” Wims told the subcommittee.

Protecting the nation’s food supply and farmland has been a key focus of the U.S. Department of Ag

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