Using a grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, UGA’s extension service will provide statewide training in basic agrosecurity awareness to more than 3,000 people this year.
Awarded to the Georgia Department of Agriculture, the grant is being directed by the Georgia Agroterrorism Committee of the state’s Homeland Security Task Force. Don Hamilton, UGA extension’s homeland security coordinator, will organize the trainings.
“Our goal is to provide basic agrosecurity awareness training to people in the state who would likely be mobilized in the event of an agrosecurity incident,” Hamilton says. “The extension service is in a unique position to provide educational training, especially on issues of agrosecurity. [Its] representatives on the front lines of food and agriculture each day serve as expert eyes and ears across the state.”
UGA’s extension county agents will be trained in March. The training will be ready to be offered to the public by the summer.