The president of Kansas State University told Congress that the country is unprepared to deal with its food supply that he says is threatened by both terrorism and natural plant and animal diseases, according to the Associated Press.
Myers spoke to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. The committee held an agriculture security hearing titled, “Safeguarding American Agriculture in a Globalized World.”
Myers was invited to testify Wednesday by Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas. He says there’s an urgent need to protect the country’s food supply from “naturally occurring and intentionally developed and delivered biological threats.”
“General Myers’ testimony before the Agriculture Committee today realizes the vision we had 18 years ago when then K-State President John Wefald testified before the Senate Emerging Threats Subcommittee, saying that our nation needed better agro-defense and that Kansas and K-State could step up to fulfill this role,” Roberts said in a press release. “Now today, just as we did then, we must continue to look ahead, invest in and evaluate measures to better protect our food supply, our economy and our public health.”
Myers, a retired four-star general in the United States Air Force and the 15th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President George W. Bush, said the university needs federal funding to continue research on four emerging animal diseases.
The university has been using its own biological isolation labs to research the diseases in anticipation of the opening of the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility.
Roberts says Myers’ recommendations should be written in Congress’ next farm bill.
