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January 30, 2008
Montgomery- In an effort to increase the security of Alabama’s Agriculture, Governor
Bob Riley along with the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries and the
Alabama Department of Homeland Security are providing agro- terrorism training to
local emergency responders.
This training will be tailored specifically to the needs of the county in preparing
for deliberate or unintentional attacks.
“An attack on Alabama agriculture could be devastating. These county planning workshops
give our local officials and first responders the educational tools needed to help
them prepare and respond in case there is an attack in Alabama,” Governor Bob Riley
said.
Each training session will cover the potential impacts of an agriculture attack,
the emergency response plan, and the roles of state and local agencies during a
disaster. It will emphasize the practicality and importance of premises registration.
Participants will also be given a mock scenario to help evaluate their response
plans.
Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks says, “Alabama is founded on agriculture, and
the Department of Agriculture is making the preparations to detect, respond to,
and recover from an attack on this important part of our economy and way of life.”
Alabama Homeland Security Director Jim Walker adds, “Agriculture is a 40 billion
dollar industry in Alabama employing approximately 500,000 Alabamians. Therefore,
it’s too important to the industry and Alabama citizens for us not to be well prepared.”
These workshops are receiving praise from Alabama Farmers Federation as well.
“Preparation for a foreign animal disease outbreak or agro-terrorism event is the
first and most important step to rapid and correct response if something so unfortunate
happens to us,” ALFA Director Perry Mobley said.
The first training session will be Wednesday, January 30 in Walker County at the
Community Activity Building in Jasper. The exercise is from 9 A.M.-3 P.M. The goal
is for all counties to receive training in 2008. For a list of county trainings,
visit www.alsart.org.
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