Missouri Farm Bureau and SB 931
An Open Letter to our elected officials Missouri House of Representatives, Missouri Senate, Governor Matt Blunt
January 29, 2008 By Bob Parker, Texas County Missouri
Dear Legislators and Governor Blunt,
As a very concerned cattle producer in Missouri I am writing to voice my horror in what is happening on the Federal Level and in every State in this Union. USDA along with Farm Bureau and Big Ag interests, as well as Technology companies such as Veri-chip and Digital Angel, [See the membership list of NIAA] have conspired together to create the ultimate regulatory monster called The National Animal Identification System, or NAIS. As a member of Missouri Farm Bureau I was horrified to see that Missouri Farm Bureau President Charles Kruse sent a letter to USDA [July of 2005] saying that MOFB was supportive of a mandatory NAIS and that MOFB also supported the NAIS program going mandatory, this letter said in part;
[ We believe a mandatory Identification program will ultimately be necessary…] [all livestock species listed should be included…[29 species] [The suggested timeline for implementing NAIS is realistic ] MOFB letter July 6,2005
Note; The latest Document on NAIS, the 2008 NAIS business plan, states on page 41 that the 2005 NAIS draft plan that Mr. Kruse was commenting on “ remains the catalyst to achieve a uniform system nationwide and, on occasion, are added to.” In other words, the ’05 draft plan is still the foundation of NAIS.
Believe me, the last thing Charles Kruse wants is for you and Farm Bureau’s members to know about this letter and their involvement in pushing NAIS. Most members I know of that have seen this letter have left Missouri Farm Bureau. I was personally voted off my FB board in Texas County before I could show my other board members this letter after speaking out about it. This letter does not involve the grassroots, they didn’t even know about it or the details of NAIS and most still don’t! I was going to inform the members of this at the annual meeting but was removed so that couldn’t happen. So much for grassroots!
To read more about the expulsion go to;
http://henwhisperer.blogspot.com/2007/08/texas-county
NAIS includes not only forcing livestock owners to register their farms, thereby subjecting themselves to unwarranted searches of their farms by USDA, but also tagging 29 species of animals with computer chips, some of which will be injected into the animal.
Additionally, NAIS will force farmers to report 14 events within 24 hours with USDA via computer or call in. I want you to know that the members of MOFB were never aware of the details of NAIS and MOFB has done everything in their power to cover-up the details of NAIS. I would be glad to come in and personally show you the facts. I would welcome Charles Kruse to be there and have to explain what he has done and how he has covered up the truth about NAIS to his membership. Mr. Kruse has sent letters to MOFB members saying that I am misrepresenting the facts about NAIS, but he has never answered me as to specifically what I am saying that is untrue or a misrepresentation.
Now you all have a letter from MOFB signed by MOFB Charles Kruse, dated Jan 28 th 2008 opposing SB 931.
The letter states MOFB policy; “We favor a voluntary (not a USDA or State Mandatory)…
I want to point out that NAIS is currently being rolled into all existing MANDATORY Missouri Dept of AG animal health programs. Just ask Missouri State Vet Taylor Woods. He told me himself that NAIS is being rolled into existing Health programs. The current cooperative agreement between USDA and MO Dept of Ag states on page 26 that premise numbers will be mandatory for import and export of livestock, friends, that will not be voluntary! MOFB has never told its members that!! If they have, where have they? Ask Leslie Holloway or Mr. Kruse for the documents where they told their members this. They do not represent the heart and soul of Missouri livestock owners!
On page 26 it also states Premise ID numbers will also be mandatory for all disease programs, Bovine TB, Brucellosis, Johne’s, Coggins testing, Scrapies, …ALL PROGRAMS!! Remember, NAIS is not just Premise Registrations; it is tagging, chipping, and TRACKING! 48 hour trace back! If you want to know how they intend to get 48-hour trace back you must understand what USDA and MOFB are proposing, but proponents never tell anyone the details until it is too late! Ask MOFB to show you where they have ever showed their members the details of what must be done to get 48-hour trace back! Ask Leslie Holloway for the documents. Ask Charles Kruse for the documents where members are told the details and then want that in their policy. They can’t, and believe me, they sure don’t want you to ask them for it. For the record, for two years I have begged them to tell their members that full story about NAIS, as far as I know, they never have! As a legislator you must ask yourself is this leadership of MOFB really representing their members interests? Honestly, how many farmers that you know would support this if they knew these details I have mentioned? Any?
Farm Bureau mentions that they are going to tell everyone how you vote on this. Your constituents may also have this letter. Which one will carry the most weight? I have no doubt I am telling the truth here and that time will prove me right. NAIS will be implemented in just a matter of months now. Just remember this letter after NAIS is implemented and your Farm community is devastated over the coming years. Will you just do nothing? Will you just talk about saving the farm but do nothing when it really matters? We need you to stop this now, not later. We are out of time…don’t let them tell you we can’t sell any livestock in the future without NAIS. We have gone 200 plus years as a country with out NAIS. Believe me, we will do just fine without it…
Opponents of NAIS have had over 22 meetings across Missouri in the last two years explaining the details of NAIS to the citizens of this great State. We have 12,000 signatures on petitions opposing NAIS. I appeal to you in the strongest of terms. Before you listen to proponents of NAIS, find out what is really happening with this program. I have asked at nearly every meeting how many oppose NAIS after hearing the facts right out of the USDA documents. 99.9% say they do not want this program!
I have been in the livestock industry all my adult life and also as a youth growing up on a farm. Never in my life have I seen a program that will devastate small farms like NAIS will. The costs involved, the labor involved, the liability involved, the list goes on and on.
I have registered cattle and a registered brand. I have always ID’d my cattle. I am proud of what I produce but I don’t want the government coming on my property and fining me and my healthy cattle for lost ear tags or other areas of non-compliance with NAIS. USDA already has disease protocol in place that have eradicated and controlled disease. These programs work. They will even tell you that these programs have worked so well they have trouble tracing animals because we are so disease free. Don’t let them tell you that we must have NAIS to survive, we can’t survive WITH NAIS as small producers.
This legislation, SB 931, will help to keep NAIS from being implemented in Missouri. It must be addressed on the Federal level too. Maybe we will lose this fight. Maybe we will have legislators that refuse to get the facts about NAIS before moving ahead. Maybe small farmers are a thing of the past. Maybe the fight is too big. Maybe the program is too complicated for most to understand until it is too late.
Maybe fascism and Big Government will take over every aspect of our lives before long. Maybe every living thing will be chipped, tracked, and regulated. Maybe the Federal and State Agencies really will take over America as our legislators relinquish their ability to govern with common sense and wisdom. Maybe we will have to have a premise number and chip our animals and report all movements within 24 hours, maybe we will have to have this number before we can buy or sell, maybe the principals that led our founding fathers are too old fashioned for our modern world to understand anymore, maybe our Constitutional freedoms and rights of free exercise and privacy and property rights are outdated, but so help me God, I will fight it until my last breath…
Sincerely,
Bob Parker
Raymondville, MO
417-457-6111 E-mail Bob@bakerealty.com
I will be glad to come and testify at hearings anytime. I do ask however that sufficient time be given to explain this program. This cannot be explained in the 5 minutes usually allowed. There are hundreds of pages of official documents on this program.
For more information about Farm Bureau and NAIS go to
http://www.propertyrights.org
http://xstatic99645.tripod.com
http://forums.news-leader.com
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