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Abstract
Literature examining demographics of consumers most concerned about acts of agro terrorism or
terrorism in general is limited due to inadequate data. A first effort to fill this information gap
was made possible by a 2005 survey conducted by the University of Minnesota. The “National
Survey of Attitudes of U.S. Residents about Terrorism.” surveyed 4,260 Americans. Results
showed 31 percent of respondents were not confident their food supply was secure from acts of
terrorism, while 77 percent felt an act of food terrorism would occur in their lifetime.
This paper is divided into three sections of analysis. First, the demographics of surveyed
respondents who believe an agro terrorist attack will occur within the next four years are
reported. Second, the level of concern respondents have regarding how secure the food supply is
from terrorist attacks is incorporated. Lastly, the impact additional information has on how
respondents allocate money towards food defense is explored. Specifically, we investigate
whether the size of respondent’s communities and their general attitude towards the safety of the
food supply has any impact on their level of concern towards the security of their food supply.
Other demographics analyzed include gender, education level, race and primary source of news
information. Binary logistic models are used in all stages of analysis. Initial findings suggest
demographics have little impact on who is most likely to believe an agro terrorist event will
occur in the next four years, while regional market size, education, race and age were the
demographics of those most concerned about acts of agro terrorism. The final stage of analysis
reported females and well educated individuals were most likely to allocate more money towards
protecting the food supply from acts of agro terrorism when additional information was
provided.