On Sept. 18, US Sen. Ted Budd, R-NC, introduced bipartisan legislation, alongside US Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-NV, the Cybersecurity in Agriculture Act, which prioritizes the recovery of American agriculture through cyberattack readiness and response.
“America’s adversaries are seeking to exploit agricultural technologies and jeopardize our national security,” said Budd in a press release. “As North Carolina’s top industry, I have seen the benefits that precision technology has on increasing agricultural output and boosting exports, but it takes just one bad actor to stop our producers from feeding America. I teamed up with Senator Cortez Masto to mitigate cyber vulnerabilities by developing defense technologies and training our workforce to eliminate threats targeting American agriculture.”
According to the press release, the legislation seeks to enhance cybersecurity preparedness by creating five Regional Agriculture Cybersecurity Centers. These centers will strengthen national security and safeguard the nation’s food supply.
According to the press release, the legislation seeks to enhance cybersecurity preparedness by creating five Regional Agriculture Cybersecurity Centers to strengthen national security and safeguard the nation’s food supply.
The bill reads as follows:
“The Secretary, acting through the Director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, and in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall establish a program under which the Secretary shall—on a competitive basis, award grants to, or enter into cooperative agreements with, eligible entities to establish 5 Regional Agriculture Cybersecurity Centers to carry out research, development, and education on agriculture cybersecurity, with respect to seed agriculture, horticulture, animal agriculture, and the agriculture supply chain; establish a national network of such Regional Agriculture Cybersecurity Centers; and designate one eligible entity to coordinate the activities of such national network.”Cyber Security in Agriculture Act
“Agriculture and food systems are critical to the well-being of families, communities, and the nation,” said North Carolina A&T Chancellor James R. Martin II, in a press release. “Having centers of excellence that focus on cybersecurity and agriculture would be a tremendous addition to the research, development, and collaborative efforts in which our land-grant university is already involved to protect the U.S. agricultural industry and advance American interests.”
If passed, the Cybersecurity in Agriculture Act will establish these five centers, which will work together to build a Regional Research Collaboration Network, enabling more efficient and consistent communication between each cybersecurity center and local farming industries. They will also focus on developing technologies for the agriculture sector by creating testbeds to refine tools, conducting attack and defense exercises, and evaluating cybersecurity solutions for field deployment.
In addition, the centers will make education and training programs designed to prepare a skilled workforce capable of developing and installing cyber defense mechanisms. A key priority of the initiative will be eliminating threats from foreign adversaries, with mitigation efforts focused on countering risks posed by countries of concern, such as the People’s Republic of China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, and the Islamic Republic of Iran.