Called mySecurity, the voluntary program lets members better protect their animals and the milk they produce from accidental or intentional contamination, the Kansas City-based DFA said in a release.

The DFA said it developed the program for members who want the latest industry updates, techniques, tools and strategies for on-farm biosecurity; product and farm safety; and family and farm emergency action plans.

The program's first of two phases includes an all-weather "Restricted Access" sign printed in Spanish and English, a "DFA Guide to Farm Biosecurity" wall chart, an emergency contact form, farm security guidelines and fact sheets.

The second phase will include a Web site where participating DFA members can enter information about their farms and create tailored security plans. They also will be able to use the Web site to get summaries of their states' animal disease emergency plans and access a database that includes emergency contact information for various governmental agencies.

"We hope to see full participation in the mySecurity program by our members," Jim Carroll, the DFA's vice president of quality assurance and regulatory issues, said in the release. "Agriculture has been identified as a critical infrastructure in this country in regard to security issues. Our customers, and our customers' customers, are vitally aware that a continuum of security from the farm to the supermarket is critical to keep our food supply safe."

The new program is part of a series of activities either completed or under way at the DFA to assure safety at farms and throughout the food chain, including a milk tank seal policy, emergency field procedures, revised field and farm biosecurity procedures, support for a national animal identification program and support for the 5-STAR Quality Assurance program, which recognizes high milk quality and animal husbandry standards.

The DFA is a cooperative with 21,000 dairy farmers as members.

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