Chances are, if an Iowa farmer or agricultural business hasn’t experienced some type of personal or business cyberattack in the past few years — a business email compromise or ransomware attack most likely — then they’re one of the lucky ones and should prepare accordingly for the future, as a bad actor likely will be coming for them soon.

Wade Greening, supervisory intelligence analyst with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) based in Omaha, said agriculture is a primary target for cyber criminals who aim to disrupt the ag supply chain, extort money or simply promote their ideologies. Greening addressed a large crowd recently at Commodity Classic 2024 in Houston, cautioning the ag sector to be aware of the increasing threats.

“If you have not been touched by a...