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Some extreme animal activists want to abolish animal agriculture and will use any means, including violence, to achieve their goals, according to a speaker at an anti-terrorism conference.

These people "morally and intellectually accept violence as a justifiable means to accomplish their goals," Gerald Kinard, president of the Law Enforcement Academic Research Network, Inc. (LEARN) , told participants in the two-day course. The Ohio Livestock Coalition (OLC), of which Ohio Farm Bureau is a member, partnered with the Animal Agriculture Alliance and LEARN to host the conference, "Managing Activist/Terrorist Threats to the Food, Agricultural and Animal Industries: A Common Sense Approach."

Kinard, who kicked off the conference, told participants that activists, and not terrorists, are the biggest threat to agriculture today.

"When people think of the word ‘terrorist’ they often picture a fundamentalist Muslim, but if the truth be known … What poses the biggest risk to agriculture today? The animal rights movement," he said.

The FBI estimates that eco- and animal rights activists have caused more than $200 million in damage in recent years. And Kinard said there have been an increasing number of attacks on farms, processing plants and other agribusinesses.

Kinard urged those in the agriculture community to develop plans to protect their livelihoods from activists.

"Early detection and diagnosis is needed for any type of threat, particularly one that would involve an act of violence, and the seminar definitely helped participants develop proactive solutions to abate potential threats instead of reacting to them and wondering what they could have done in advance to prevent it," said David White, OLC’s executive director.

The conference, held last month in Columbus, was hands-on and taught attendees how to determine credible threats to staff, facilities and the public, how to collect intelligence on those threats and how to develop practical threat management plans to prevent violence. They learned how terrorists and activists think so they could determine how to protect their businesses. They also used the Internet to research individuals and groups that have been known to attack agriculture.

During the seminar, participants tried to penetrate security measures set up at the building where the conference was being held. Two walked around the building, taking pictures of outdoor cameras, utility lines and entrances. An employee asked what the two were doing and, after receiving an answer, let them continue walking around the outside of the building. The employee was right to question them but also should have verified their answer to his question, Kinard said.

"Animal agriculture has a number of unique factors that make it an easy target for being exploited by terrorists. While international terrorism threats usually get most of the headlines, domestic terrorism is definitely a bigger threat to agriculture and the food supply," White said. "The most likely target is a weak spot, and according to experts, the livestock industry has several of them when it comes to attracting potential terrorist activity."

Caption: Acting state veterinarian Dr. Leah Dorman looks on the Internet for information about groups known to use violence against agriculture and businesses. Photo courtesy of OLC.