Farm security

Farm security is national security. And from that context, USDA's National Farm Security Action Plan involves interagency partners on the federal, state and local levels to protect our nation's ag sector. Here’s USDA Office of Homeland Security Director Matt Allen speaking at this year's Agricultural Outlook Forum. Across the federal community. We have different perspectives, different interests, and different stakeholders, but we all share the belief that protecting U.S. agriculture protects the United States from its adversaries. Agriculture is highly technical and sophisticated, perfectly measured and adapted to maximize productivity.Speaker 1: Hence the need for these partnerships to share information regarding security vulnerabilities in agriculture and develop novel technical solutions and innovations to farm based challenges. Joe Pawlowski is the Treasury Department's Committee for Foreign Investment Staff chair. He says with tech advancements, investigating ag related non-controlling investments means finding the right expert and not just one with an ag background. Speaker 3: Maybe a data scientist, maybe understanding how much data is being trained on those algorithms to help deduce what works, what doesn't. And this isn't just AI and biotech. You see it in advanced manufacturing. Robotics.

Doctor Kate Sixt, executive director of USDA's office of the Chief Scientists says protection of data, whether it applies to soil and water resources or innovations like new types of seed is imperative. Speaker 4: Are you secure in your data? And then where is that data going? What can you do with that data? If we are going to make data available for all of us to use? Do companies know where that data is going? Are they able to utilize that? Do they know the components in all of this automation, in the mechanization? Those are the aspects that we have to get at when we think about research, security and security of the farm. Speaker 1: Usda's Office of Homeland Security's Isaac Dietrich says farm security and national security includes reliable global partnerships to provide resources needed on the farm level. Speaker 5: What can we do with our partners to build a resilient system that we're going to need here in the US, that they're going to need to be able to continue to produce as well? Speaker 1: Brad Bain, reporting for the US Department of Agriculture in Washington, DC.