Ag Terrorism & Oregon Looks At Hemp

Ag Terrorism & Oregon Looks At Hemp. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.

Oregonians will soon be lighting up come mid-year but now farmers are wanting to get in on the ground floor with hemp production. The state is currently looking at drafting rules to govern the production of hemp which is not the same as marijuana used for recreation and medical uses. Hemp is used for everything from clothing to rope and biodiesel. If all goes to plan, rules could be in place to allow producers to start planting industrial hemp this spring.

We've been hearing about several incidents of terrorism in urban areas as of late but what about out in the great wide open spaces we call farmland? Ag terrorism is something we just don't think much about. Mark Ormsby is the Chief Reports Officer with the FBI who says agriculture

ORMSBY: The agriculture industry is a critical infrastructure but it's also a soft target. Just by it's very nature it need to be able to be open so that commerce can move. People can come on and off of farms and other different areas. And because of that there is some inherent vulnerabilities.

Ormsby suggests visiting the Homeland Security, USDA and FDA's websites to do research and find our more about vulnerabilities on the farm.

That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network of the West.