Immigrant farmworkers, who comprise up to 80 percent of the agricultural workforce, are on the front line of food production. To better equip farmworkers in the dairy industry to recognize and prevent acts of agroterrorism, UC Davis' Western Institute for Food Safety and Security has developed an agroterrorism awareness training course.

The course was field-tested this summer in focus groups with 57 workers from five dairies in California's North Bay and Central Valley regions. Training materials, written in English and Spanish and at an appropriate literacy level, included a manual and take-home comic-book style novella. The materials were designed to help the participants understand that their workplace could be subject to intentional harm, develop an awareness to guard against such harmful acts and realize that they can play an important role in reporting signs of animal diseases and suspicious activities.

"We cannot succeed in protecting this nation's food systems without enlisting the help of the labor force," said Jerry Gillespie, director of the Western Institute for Food Safety and Security. "We have found that farmworkers are vitally interested in being a part of the agroterrorism defense teams. In learning how to recognize and prevent acts of terrorism on the farm, they increase their personal safety as well as the security of their jobs and of the nation's food supply."

The training program met with a positive response from the participating dairy workers, according to Gillespie. One dairy representative noted that the participants from his dairy were quite interested in the role they could play in safeguarding their workplace.

For copies of the on-disk training materials or for contacts at participating dairies, media can contact Sharon Avery, project director, at the Western Institute for Food Safety and Security at (530) 757-8311 or savery@wifss.ucdavis.edu.