Agriculture facing its own Katrina

Gosh, such dismal news on all food fronts.

More NAIS news in my next post.

Hen

Agri-News article about NAIS

Hen's note:

I'm getting Google News Alerts for NAIS so that I can read what is being written all around the country, which is precious little!

I wrote to the author of this piece asking that the small farmer not be forgotten in this Big Brother scheme. I'll ask you to do the same. If you want a copy of my comments to the author, write and I'll send them to you.

One other note.... it's come to my attention that Horses are going to be included in the id and do you know why? Horses aren't legal for consumption in this country, but they are good enough to be food in other countries. As I gather info I see that the USDA doesn't want to miss the boat in increasing export revenue, so horses will need to be tracked in case they get "lost" and find themselves in line to be slaughtered.

Those feds, they think of just everything, don't they?

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Producer -- Time has come for national ID program

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

By Jean Caspers-Simmet

Agri News staff writer

MADISON, Wis. -- Colorado dairy producer Greg Marrs says his farm is not his father or his grandfather's farm.

While his ancestors didn't an animal identification system, today's producers do.

"We need an identification and traceback system, and we need to get started right now,'' said Marrs, who has dairy operations at Pierce and Johnston, Colo.

At World Dairy Expo earlier this month in Madison, Wis., Marrs spoke in support of IDairy, a group of six dairy organizations working to facilitate a national animal ID system.

Representatives from the American Jersey Cattle Association, Holstein Association USA, Inc., National Association for Animal Breeders, National Dairy Herd Improvement Association, National Milk Producers Federation and Professional Dairy Heifer Growers Association came together to form IDairy. The groups are urging dairy producers to register their farm premises as the first step toward a national animal ID program.

Marrs said his father's cows stayed at the same location their entire lives. On his farm, animals move a minimum of 10 times. Today there's a constant stream of traffic in and out of his farm. In his father's day, a visit from anyone outside of the family was big news.

Animal identification is something that all livestock producers must participate in, Marrs said.

"We cannot wait for the government, other industries or an animal disease to force dairy farmers into an animal identification system,'' said Jerry Kozak, president and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation. "We need to come together as an industry and protect the dairy sector through national animal ID.''

While the U.S. Department of Agriculture decides on the logistics of a national ID system, IDairy will take steps to further the dairy industry along in the process.

IDairy hopes to have all dairy cows identified prior to the 2009 goal set by USDA.

In order to accomplish this, IDairy has three phases, said John Meyer, CEO of Holstein Association USA. The first is to have farmers register the premises where they have livestock. They can find out how individual state registers premises by going to www.idairy.org. In Minnesota, farmers contact the Board of Animal Health. In Iowa they work through the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.

Next, farmers have to identify each animal. IDairy supports the use of radio frequency identification device ear tags. The third phase is the transfer of data from the individual systems to a national database.

IDairy will soon be able to track how many premises are registered and provide information to farmers to make each step of this process as seamless as possible, Meyer said. Down the road, IDairy will provide tag criteria and instructions on the best method of identifying each animal.

A Way to Participate

ATTENTION

LIVESTOCK and HORSE OWNERS

ORGANIC and LOCAL FOOD CONSUMERS

THE USDA PLANS TO MAKE EVERY OWNER OF EVEN ONE HORSE, COW, PIG, GOAT, SHEEP, CHICKEN, OR PIGEON REGISTER IN A GOVERNMENT DATABASE AND SUBJECT THEIR PROPERTY AND ANIMALS TO CONSTANT FEDERAL AND STATE GOVERNMENT SURVEILLANCE.

Under the present USDA plan, as of January 1, 2008:

● EVERY HOMEOWNER with any animals must obtain a 7-digit USDA ID number keyed to Global Positioning System satellite surveillance coordinates, with all the property and owner’s information permanently stored in a USDA database.

● EVERY ANIMAL must be tagged with a Radio Frequency tag or chip, readable at a distance, with a 15-digit USDA ID number.

● THE OWNER MUST REPORT, within 24 hours, every sale or purchase of an animal, every death or slaughter, every missing animal, every placement or loss of an ID tag, and every time an animal leaves or returns to the owner's property.

THIS PLAN WILL DRIVE SMALL FARMERS OUT OF BUSINESS AND WILL PREVENT CITIZENS FROM RAISING ANIMALS FOR FOOD OR PLEASURE.

PLEASE HELP STOP THE USDA PLAN

FARM for LIFE^TM is a new public-interest organization opposed to mandatory animal ID. Please support our work by subscribing to our newsletter (to be published three times a year, first issue scheduled for November 2005).

For more information or to subscribe to the newsletter contact:

Mary Zanoni, Executive Director of Farm for Life, 315-265-2800.

NAIS: Government By Proxy

While I am totally opposed to the NAIS, I think this article is important because it exposes deeper issues in the scheme.

by Terry A. and J. Randall Stevenson

They want to call it privatization. But it’s not. The U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has begun the process of instituting the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) for health and disease tracking purposes in livestock.

Each animal would be given a unique identification number sometime before it leaves the premises of its birth. The USDA has declared that it intends to turn over the operation of the NAIS to a consortium of livestock industry organizations led by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA). They say they are “privatizing” it. In truth, we should call it government by proxy. Would they call it privatization if the government turned over the operation of unemployment insurance to the AFL-CIO, a consortium of labor organizations?

The USDA proposal would grant monopoly status to a private organization. This would be a great leap backward for genuine free enterprise. Our country’s founding was triggered by the existence of a government sanctioned monopoly – the East India Company. It’s not hard to imagine a group of cattlemen dumping boxes of cattle i.d. tags in Boston Harbor.

Another problem with the proposed “privatization” of the NAIS is related to agency capture. It is a fact that many individuals who are now in authority in the USDA previously held positions in the NCBA or other industry related organizations. Granting the operation of the NAIS to the NCBA echoes the machinations of the once powerful Tammany Hall of New York City. In its heyday, the Grand Sachem of Tammany Hall determined who would be employed and who would be given contracts by the city. Tammany Hall, not city hall, was the real governing power in New York City. The most notable Grand Sachem was William “Boss” Tweed. Tweed openly engaged in many shady ethical deals. Founded originally as a fraternal organization, Tammany Hall eventually followed such a twisted standard of morals that its members distinguished carefully between what they considered honest and dishonest graft.

In the Supreme Court ruling on the Beef Checkoff Justice Scalia provided an invitation for the plaintiffs to return with a claim of unconstitutionality based on the principle of freedom of association. Such a claim would apply more fittingly to a mandatory but privately operated animal identification system. In that situation there would be no “government speech” to hide behind. Cattle producers would have no choice but to associate with the NCBA by using the mandatory identification program. This would be required even though the NCBA does not even represent the majority of cattle producers. The NCBA does not represent all cattle producers any more than the AFL-CIO represents all workers.

Granting the NAIS operation to the NCBA is also an end run around the Hatch Act of 1939. That act prohibits government employees from lobbying or campaigning. If the USDA gives the operation of the NAIS to the NCBA, then there is a problem of violating the spirit and intent of the Hatch Act. Carrying on the operation through a non-profit “consortium” barely changes the fact that the NCBA will gain, if not financially, certainly a great deal of political clout from running the NAIS. And the fact is that the NCBA is a lobbying organization. If association with the NCBA is mandatory through the NAIS, and the NCBA continues to lobby, there is a serious problem. There is no way NAIS users would be able to disassociate themselves from lobbying positions taken by the NCBA. If the NCBA wishes to continue to lobby and campaign, it should not benefit (monetarily or politically) from a government mandate that would require all cattle producers to associate with them.

A better proposal would be to let the individual states run their own programs. Many states already have livestock boards in place that enforce livestock brand laws. These brand laws, which are already a rudimentary identification system, differ widely from state to state. It makes no sense for the federal government to impose a national identification system on these states if they can satisfy the goals of a national system by themselves. The federal government does not need to track any animals until they cross a state line. Each state is more capable of running its own system. The only federal involvement necessary is to tell the states what information needs to be tracked. When livestock leaves its state of origin then that information can be passed to the destination state. Nothing more complicated is necessary. Calling the USDA proposal “privatization” obscures the fact that it is also a “federalization” of existing state animal health and identification programs.

Private organizations performing work for the government is not anything new. When such work has been contracted in ways that maintain competitive choice, both government and the public have benefited. Even in the realm of utilities where the government has granted regulated monopolies, the trend has been toward a system of competitive choice. However, the proposal to give the operation of the NAIS to a private consortium does not fit this pattern.

The pattern suggested in the USDA’s proposal has been seen in history before. It can be called cronyism, Tammanization, taxation without representation, compulsory association, favoritism, and patronage. Some might even call it incipient fascism, with its merger of government and business. But one thing is unique about the USDA’s proposal. This is the first time in history it has been called “privatization.”

Why You Should Oppose the USDA's NAIS

(reprint of article by Mary Zanoni, Ph.D.)

Poultry fanciers and keepers of small flocks are facing a grave threat from a proposed government intrusion into their innocent choice of pastimes and way of life. For several years, the USDA has been working with the largest-scale animal industry organizations (for example, the National Pork Producers, Monsanto Company, and Cargill Meat) to develop a mandatory "National Animal Identification System" ("NAIS").

However, most small scale livestock producers, people who raise animals for their own food, and people who keep horses or livestock as companion animals do not know about the USDA's plans.

The NAIS will drive small producers out of the market, will make people abandon raising animals for their own food, will invade Americans' personal privacy to a degree never before tolerated, will violate the religious freedom of Americans whose beliefs make it impossible for them to comply, and will erase the last vestiges of animal welfare from the production of animal foods.

The Problem

On April 25, 2005, the USDA released "Draft Program Standards" ("St.") and a "Draft Strategic Plan" ("Plan") concerning the NAIS. If you think the description below sounds too bizarre to be true, please go here , read the Standards and Plan, and check the citations. By January 1, 2008, the NAIS will be mandatory. (Plan, pp. 2, 10, 17.)

Every person who owns even one horse, cow, pig, chicken, sheep, pigeon, or virtually any livestock animal, will be forced to register their home, including owner's name, address, and telephone number, and keyed to Global Positioning System coordinates for satellite monitoring, in a giant federal database under a 7-digit "premises ID number." (St., pp. 3-4, 10-12; Plan, p. 5.)

Every animal will have to be assigned a 15-digit ID number, also to be kept in a giant federal database. The form of ID will most likely be a tag or microchip containing a Radio Frequency Identification Device, designed to be read from a distance. (Plan, p. 10; St., pp. 6, 12, 20, 27-28.)

The plan may also include collecting the DNA of every animal and/or a retinal scan of every animal. (Plan, p.13.)

The owner will be required to report: the birthdate of an animal, the application of every animal's ID tag, every time an animal leaves or enters the property, every time an animal loses a tag, every time a tag is replaced, the slaughter or death of an animal, or if any animal is missing. Such events must be reported within 24 hours. (St., pp. 12-13, 17-21.)

Third parties, such as veterinarians, will be required to report "sightings" of animals. (St., p. 25.) In other words, if you call a vet to your property to treat your horse, cow, or any other animal, and the vet finds any animal without the mandatory 15-digit computer-readable ID, the vet may be required to report you.

If you do not comply, the USDA will exercise "enforcement" against you. (St., p. 7; Plan, p. 17.) The USDA has not yet specified the nature of "enforcement," but presumably it will include imposing fines and/or seizing your animals. There are no exceptions -- under the USDA plan, you will be forced to register and report even if you raise animals only for your own food or keep horses for draft or for transportation.

The Negative Effects

Eradication of Small Farms - People with just a few meat animals or 40-cow dairies are already living on the edge financially. The USDA plan will force many of them to give up farming.

Loss of the True Security of Organic and Local Foods - The NAIS is touted by the USDA and agricorporations as a way to make our food supply "secure" against diseases or terrorism. However, most people instinctively understand that real food security comes from raising food yourself or buying from a local farmer you actually know. The USDA plan will only kill off more local sources of production and further promote the giant industrial methods which cause many food safety and disease problems.

Extreme Damage to Personal Privacy - Legally, livestock animals are a form of personal property. It is unprecedented for the United States government to conduct large-scale computer-aided surveillance of its citizens simply because they own a common type of property. (The only exceptions are registration of motor vehicles and guns, due to their clear inherent dangers - but they are registered at the state level, not by the federal government.) The NAIS would actually subject the owner of a chicken to far more surveillance than the owner of a gun. Surveillance of small-scale livestock owners is like the government subjecting people to surveillance for owning a couch, a TV, a lawnmower.

What about non-livestock animals?

Will the government next want to register all cats, dogs, and parakeets, and demand the global positioning coordinates of their owners' houses and apartments?

Insult to Animal Welfare - The NAIS is the ultimate objectification of higher, sensitive living creatures, treating individual animals as if they were cans of peas with a bar code. Many people who raise their own animals or buy from small, local producers do so because they are very troubled by industrial-scale production of chickens, cattle, and pigs. These people will be forced either to sacrifice their personal privacy to government surveillance, or to stop raising their own food by humane standards.

Burden on Religious Freedom - Many adherents of plain (and other) faiths raise their own food animals and use animals in farming and transportation because their beliefs require them to live this way. Such people obviously cannot comply with the USDA's computerized, technology-dependent system. The NAIS will force these people to violate their religious beliefs.

What You Can Do

Small-scale keepers of poultry and other livestock can take action to create an effective movement in opposition to the USDA/agricorporate plan. First, small-scale livestock owners should not participate in any so-called "voluntary" state or federal program to register farms or animals. The USDA is using farmers' supposed willingness to enter a "voluntary" program as a justification for making the program mandatory. (See Plan, "Executive Summary" and pp. 7-8.)

Small farmers and livestock owners can also help inform and organize others. The USDA presently does not plan to finalize its rules for mandatory ID until the summer of 2006. There is still time to oppose this plan. Several farmers and other concerned citizens have joined together to form FARM for LIFETM, a public-interest organization to support the rights of small and subsistence farmers and consumers of organic, natural, and local foods. FARM for LIFE's first project is to stop the USDA plan for mandatory animal ID.

The organization will publish a newsletter three times a year (first publication scheduled for November 1, 2005), to inform citizens of developments concerning animal ID and other issues vital to the small farming and natural/organic food communities. Newsletter subscribers will also be sent information at appropriate times on how to contact lawmakers and the USDA to oppose animal ID. In addition, FARM for LIFETM will coordinate with other existing interest groups to mount an effective campaign against animal ID.

Please help STOP animal ID and support FARM for LIFETby subscribing to the newsletter: $25 Individual Subscription (1 year), $40 Institutional Subscription (1 year), Please help with an additional donation in any amount. Make your check payable to "Farm for Life" and mail to: Farm for Life, PO Box 501, Canton, New York 13617. email: mlz@slic.com

The Rustic Life

Phew, we've still got more of this wind and rain to go through. Yesterday afternoon and night were just awful. The winds were fierce and the rain slanted. My husband left around 11 for his 3 week stint away for his job.

Delivering hay to the buckskin mare was extremely nerve wracking on several counts. The hay is not close by her house and so, a walk in high winds sets my nerves on edge. Even if I walk along the edge of the woods, it still doesn't protect me. And then when I hit the the open area, the wind tries to knock me down or take the hay away from me.

Horses are notoriously nervous when it's windy. They can smell a bear or coyote or moose a couple of miles away, just from the few molecules rolling in the air. When it's windy I prefer to put the hay inside of the mare's run-in rather than have it blow acres away wasting it, but that presents some problems if my timing isn't right.

The first year, when she was getting the booster for her shots, the vet, who was very bad at giving shots (more like throwing darts) restrained the yearling in the corner of the run-in, tied her nose right into the corner in order to give the shot. She has never forgotten and unfortunately the part of the run in where I would put her hay in these extreme wind conditions is right there where the vet and I stood to get out of the scared and kicking filly's way. So my timing has to be right, get into the run-in, put down the hay and move out of the way before she comes running at me and for the hay, eyes white with fear from the memory, fear from the wind, with an added plus of being stuck in transitional estrus. Phew. I'm already nervously spent and it's not even 8:30.

Electricity went out last night at 7. I waited until 9, thank God for my laptop, fully charged, loaded with instant messaging so I could at least talk to DH, before I decided it was time to power up the generator. Raw nature, winds strong, loud, trees groaning, standing in the dark garage with a failing flashlight, trying to remember how the generator works, how many switches need to be turned this way or that. The last time it had to be powered up was two days after Thanksgiving, when my daughter and I were here alone. After trying to get it started (it has a lawnmower pull-cord that might suit a 300 lb male, but not me, with no upper body strength.) we flagged down a passing car. Hoping for a man to help, two women got out of the car. They saw my disappointment at not having a man on board, but they were a gay couple and one being a manly-man-woman was more than happy to step up and give that cord a yank. I was extremely grateful for her.

Last night no such person appeared, but I did remember all three switches that needed to be turned or flipped before attempting the cord. I jerked it a couple of times, nothing. Turned my eyes above and pleaded, Abba, I need some help. A couple of more yanks and LIGHT!!!!!

After we slaughtered the last of the turkeys on Saturday, I had been feeling sorry that the farm now houses no critters to be taken care of. Last night I was glad there were none to worry about, save for the buckskin mare. She pretty much stayed inside her house the whole day. That tells you how bad it was.

More of the same weather today plus some added flooding. I have a board meeting to attend this afternoon. Hope the waters go down by then or there may not be a route to take that doesn't go through water.

I will finish this post by saying that I thought about to the people who were hit by the hurricanes recently. I wondered what I would do if the weather we were having got worse, like if the 100 year old maple tree in the front yard crashed down on the house. What would I do with my mare? I could, most certainly would, take the dogs with me, but the mare? I decided I wouldn't leave the dogs, cars or mare alone. I'd stick it out, but I wouldn't expect the government to give me a hand-out after.

Hen