Terrorism may be closer to Iowa than people think.

Bioterrorism and agricultural terrorism have increasingly become a concern since Sept. 11, said Joseph Donnermeyer, professor in the department of human and community resource development at Ohio State University.

“Iowa is, from my point of view, the most agricultural state in the nation,” Donnermeyer said.

Animals can be infected with foot-and-mouth, mad cow disease, avian influenza, swine fever or hog cholera.

Plants can be contaminated with airborne fungi or waterborne bacteria.

While it may be hard to organize a mass infection of animals, “one case of disease can cause economic loss or psychological and social disruption,” Donnermeyer said.

“I’m at about one half of one percent of what I should know about rural terrorism,” he said.

Americans should remember Oklahoma City instead of New York City, he said.

“Oklahoma City is the heartland,” Donnermeyer said. “The terrorist there was an American veteran.”

He also gave ways to help fight terrorism.

Donnermeyer said public awareness and education, ongoing inter-agency communication, inter-agency coordination, standardized inter-agency training and training busy people, like volunteers, top this list.

Donnermeyer spoke about the symbolism of terrorism as well, and said every town, including Ames, can be a target for terrorists.

“Terrorism is almost all symbolic; the incidents can occur almost anywhere,” he said.

Some examples of targets might be monuments, government buildings, clinics, research facilities or headquarters.

“Anything with a symbolic value will work, and Ames has each of these,” he said.