The recommendation comes after workshops with more than 150 stakeholders
U.S. researchers believe a national body is needed to address cybersecurity threats in American agriculture and food.
Representatives from multiple universities including Iowa State University, Washington State University, UC Davis, as well as the International Center for Food Ontology Operability Data and Semantics, after workshops with more than 150 stakeholders, concluded the creation of an Agriculture Cybersecurity Consortium (ACC) is necessary to protect American ag from cyber threats.
The recommendation is published in Nature Food, a scientific journal.
The proposed funding model is a combination of federal and state governments as well as private investment.
The recommendation includes having five regional centers – Midwest, Northwest, Northeast, Southwest, and Southeast, and a national coordinating hub.
“Each center would work with local partners to conduct cybersecurity research, develop testing facilities, and provide education and workforce training tailored to regional needs. One center could also serve as the national coordinator,” an Iowa State University release says.
Hackers are targeting American ag and food sectors more frequently.
The Food and Agriculture Information Sharing and Analysis Center, for example, reported attacks on food and drink companies reached 227 in the first half of this year, a 62 percent jump from the same time in 2025.
And these attacks can be devastating to the sector.
June 2021 cyberattacks on JBS forced U.S. processing plant shutdowns affecting almost 20 percent of U.S. beef processing. And the company ultimately paid an $11 million ransom in Bitcoin to hacker group REvil to have its systems restored.
Food and agriculture are among the 16 Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources sectors.
These sectors “are considered so vital to the United States that their incapacitation or destruction would have a debilitating effect,” on the country.
That’s why the American ag sector needs to be equipped to defend itself from cyber crime.
“Whether it’s a small family farm, a regional processor, or a global distributor, every operation must be equipped with the knowledge and tools to defend against cyber threats. By combining cutting-edge university research with direct extension outreach, the Agriculture Cybersecurity Consortium will make cybersecurity accessible and practical for all producers, thus ensuring digital innovation strengthens, rather than threatens, our agricultural foundation,” Doug Jacobson, a professor at Iowa State University, said in the school’s statement.
“With increased digitization of agricultural data and increased adoption of AI into daily workflows, it has become all the more important to provide cybersecurity guarantees in agriculture,” Ananth Kalyanaraman, a professor in Washington State University’s school of electrical engineering, said in a university release.