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<OL> <LI> How do consumers and agricultural producers regard credibility of state and federal government sources as providers of information regarding agroterrorism and agrosecurity? <LI>What situational/scenario factors affect those views? <LI> What personality factors and values affect those views? <LI>During crisis events, what channels would be most utilized? <LI> For security measures that are announced apart from crisis events, which channels would be used most?
NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Agrosecurity and agroterrorism are growing concerns in the Midwest and the entire United States. Introduced pathogens, contaminants, and disease threaten the security of the U.S. food production and processing system. Federal officials have almost guaranteed the strike of terrorists, and one of the vulnerable areas for this strike is in food production.
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APPROACH: Both qualitative and quantitative methods will be used in this study. The first step will be to utilize qualitative methods. Focus groups are a strong method to recreate the social context of decisions and the social nature of values. Focus groups are group interviews that follow prescribed steps and question routes. Twenty five focus groups will be conducted in this study, 10 with agricultural producers and 15 with consumers. All of the focus groups will be conducted in Kansas. Ten of the consumer focus groups will be conducted in urban and suburban areas, while the remainder will be conducted in rural areas.