Researchers Propose National Cybersecurity Consortium for US Agriculture
A multi-campus team of researchers published a paper in Nature Food outlining a plan to create a national, geographically distributed Agriculture Cybersecurity Consortium to protect the nation’s food production and agricultural complex from digital threats. The proposed consortium addresses growing vulnerabilities across the supply chain as cyberattacks become more sophisticated due to agentic artificial intelligence.
Modern farming systems rely heavily on digital infrastructure, creating severe risks for small- and medium-sized agrifood operations. “Every day, millions of small- and medium-sized agrifood operations across the supply chain face very real cyber risks, though many may not realize how vulnerable they are,” Richard Hull, a principal scientist at IC-FOODS and computer science lecturer at UC Davis, said. Hull added that the initiative aims to treat cyberhealth as a fundamental part of operations alongside crop and animal health.
Structure and Leadership of the Proposed Consortium
The proposed Agriculture Cybersecurity Consortium would unite farms, cooperatives, agribusinesses, cybersecurity businesses, government, non-governmental organizations, and academia. Land-grant universities possessing strong computing and cybersecurity expertise would form the bedrock of the organization, leading new testbeds, research initiatives, and workforce development programs.
The recommendations stem from a consensus built across three regionally coordinated workshops and follow-up sessions involving more than 150 participants. Partnering with UC Davis, Washington State University, Virginia Tech University, North Carolina A&T University, and the International Center for Food Ontology Operability Data and Semantics (IC-FOODS), Iowa State University headed the initiative.
Institutional Backing and Funding Sources
Leadership for the Nature Food paper came from Matthew Lange, CEO and Chief Science Officer of IC-FOODS, alongside Richard Hull. Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Computer Science Matthew Bishop, Professor Emeritus of Computer Science Karl Levitt, as well as Professor of Computer Science Mohammad Sadoghi, contributed to the conceptualization and review process.
Funding for the underlying workshops came in part from Iowa State’s Presidential Interdisciplinary Research Initiative. The National Science Foundation provided backing for the AI Institute for Intelligent Cyberinfrastructure with Computational Learning in the Environment (ICICLE), which offered additional support to IC-FOODS.
Systemic Risk to the Food Supply
“Cybersecurity is not simply an IT problem — it is a food-system resilience problem,” Lange stated, emphasizing that the consortium provides a mechanism to build collective capacity against systemic threats.
What Institutions Led the Cybersecurity Proposal?
What specific institutions led the development of the cybersecurity proposal?
Working alongside the non-profit research institute IC-FOODS, UC Davis, Washington State University, Virginia Tech University, and North Carolina A&T University, Iowa State University directed the project.
How many stakeholders contributed to the recommendations outlined in the paper?
More than 150 stakeholders and participants contributed through three regionally coordinated workshops and subsequent follow-up sessions.
Which specific funding sources supported the initiative?
The workshops received partial funding from Iowa State’s Presidential Interdisciplinary Research Initiative, while IC-FOODS received support from the National Science Foundation funding for the ICICLE AI institute.
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