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Farm Bureau says report on ammonium nitrate, terrorism was unfair

by Amy Beth Graves

Unfair is how the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) characterizes an ABC News report on terrorism and ammonium nitrate, which has been used to make bombs.

The program attacked the nation’s largest farm organization for expressing concerns about a House bill that would have required farmers to register with the Department of Homeland Security in order to sell the fertilizer or show identification to purchase it.

"The report created the impression that American Farm Bureau is impeding progress on stopping or preventing terrorism," Paul Schlegel, AFBF’s director of public policy, told Buckeye Farm News.

The one-hour special program aired at 10 p.m. on the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks. The first segment was about ammonium nitrate, which is the "weapon of choice for terrorists," Congressman Peter King, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said at the beginning of the 10-minute segment.

The program showed journalism students buying large quantities of ammonium nitrate at stores in Virginia and North Carolina without showing any identification. While federal law does not require identification to be shown, the fertilizer industry encourages farm stores to ask for identification, ABC News reported.

Reporter Brian Ross then interviewed Rebeckah Adcock, AFBF’s director of congressional relations, and asked if she thought a stranger could walk into an agricultural store and buy ammonium nitrate.

"I think if he was in middle America, it would be unlikely," she responded. When she found out ABC News had purchased 1,000 pounds of the fertilizer with no questions asked, she said that "it probably shouldn’t have happened that way -- those people should have asked some questions," adding fuel to the report.

ABC News then went on to accuse Farm Bureau of lobbying members of Congress to support a "watered down version" of a House bill that would set guidelines on the purchase of ammonium nitrate.

The first proposed bill would have required people who produce, store, sell, distribute or buy ammonium nitrate to register with the Department of Homeland Security. Schlegel said the House Committee on Homeland Security asked AFBF its opinion about the proposal. AFBF responded that farmers would probably say the requirements were burdensome and unnecessary since many know their customers. The committee amended the bill to require that those who sell ammonium nitrate to provide the Department of Homeland Security with the names and phone numbers of people who produce or buy the fertilizer. The bill was voted out of committee in June with no action taken since then.

"(The ABC News program) misrepresented our efforts to help the House committee find a solution to a bill they wanted to move," Schlegel said.

While AFBF has not taken a formal position in the House or Senate on ammonium nitrate legislation, the organization does not object to an identification check requirement or a requirement that asks sellers to retain the names and addresses of purchasers of the product, Schlegel said.

After the program aired, Farm Bureau received several critical e-mails from viewers. Schlegel said he met with members of the House Committee on Homeland Security to express AFBF’s concern that the program didn’t accurately portray the organization.

Schlegel said it was disturbing that the broadcast implied that AFBF put its members’ interests before national security.

"You couldn’t find an organization with more patriotic members than Farm Bureau," he said. "This program simply didn’t fairly portray Farm Bureau members."