National Pork Producers Council President-Elect Jon Caspers participated Sept. 30 in a simulated bio-terrorism exercise sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Caspers joined other agricultural officials observing USDA testing its capability in dealing with a possible attack on agriculture and its infrastructure.
"Crimson Sky" was the first of six planned exercises designed to give the agency a better appreciation of issues and constraints in a bio-terrorism situation.
Caspers, a pork producer from Swaledale, IA, stressed the importance of participating in such exercises in "combating the public’s fear and the spread of misinformation about bio-terrorism.
"Participating in the simulation reminds those of us in the agricultural community that we will need to be vigilant and always prepared for the worst-case scenario," he notes.