While the nation recovers from the Sept. 11 attacks, some experts fear small, Midwestern agricultural centers may be the target for a new battle – biological warfare spread by crop-dusting planes.

Although the planes have been identified as a possible method of attack, others argue the risks are slim and none.

Robert Wallace, expert in biological warfare, said viruses could be dropped from the crop-dusting planes.

“This type of thing would be noticed in a big city, and the plane would either be warned off or even shot down,” said Wallace, professor of biology at Ripon College in Ripon, Wis. “It is going to be easier and produce a more frightening outcome in a small town than in a big city.”

Helen Jensen, ISU professor of economics, is a member of the National Research Council’s Committee on Biological Threats to Agricultural Plants and Animals. She said the Midwest is a viable target because of its role in supplying the nation’s food.

“Anywhere there is a large production of agriculture, you are going to be at a potential risk,” she said.

But Susan Storm of Storm Spraying Service in Webster City said it’s very unlikely that terrorists would use crop-dusting planes.

“It would be quite an act to get in one,” she said. “They’re not a car sitting in a parking lot.”

Storm Spraying Service has two dusting-equipped planes and is one of Iowa’s 35 professional crop dusters, Storm said. The pilots must have a license from both the state and federal governments, and their planes are kept locked up when they are not in use, she said.

The planes would almost all be unusable right now, and they won’t be flying overhead anytime soon.

“Once it freezes, we’re pretty much done with spraying and they take the planes apart to overhaul them,” she said.

“They have until April or May.”