National Animal Identification System
The National Animal Identification System (NAIS) is designed to identify all livestock animals and poultry and track their movements. The USDA claims that the NAIS will be able to identify all premises on which animals and poultry are located, and all animals that have had contact with a disease of concern, within 48 hours of discovery. In reality, NAIS provides no food safety benefit and threatens small-scale organic farmers and ranchers, while accelerating farm consolidation and benefitting factory farms.
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Mother Earth News
If you've visited your local feed dealer or veterinarian recently, or read any of the dozens of livestock or poultry magazines targeted at small farmers, you probably already know what "NAIS" stands for. The National Animal Identification System is arguably the most hated federal program in rural America. The plan, released in draft form in April 2005 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), proposed sweeping changes in the way animals are managed on small farms and homesteads. It called for registration of livestock "premises" and individual animals in national databases, and for Read more
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Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance
Note: For information: Liberty Ark Coalition: http://www.libertyark.net. Liberty Ark is a single-purpose coalition formed to stop the implementation of the National Animal Identification System, at both the federal and state levels. Liberty Ark is helping connect people to other activists in their states, educate the public, and create an effective grassroots movement to stop NAIS.
Although the USDA repeatedly states that NAIS is now "voluntary" at the federal level, it is encouraging mandatory state programs through grants. The USDAs Read more
Although the USDA repeatedly states that NAIS is now "voluntary" at the federal level, it is encouraging mandatory state programs through grants. The USDAs Read more
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January 25, 2007
Located south of the tiny town of Tarpley, Texas, Debbie Davis's Seco Valley Ranch is something of a model farm. On her 1,800-acre spread, Davis grazes 225 longhorn cattle, every one of which she closely monitors so that she can better manage the herd and its health. Davis' meat is prized in the supermarkets of Austin and San Antonio, where her grass-fed, pastured beef sells for a premium. In many ways, Davis is the very ideal of a local entrepreneur -- profitable and secure, succeeding on her own terms.
Which is why it angers Davis so much when she considers the government's Read more
Which is why it angers Davis so much when she considers the government's Read more
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January 22, 2007
The Northeast Organic Farming Association is backing state legislation that would stop the use of federal money for a national livestock identification and tracking program.
Jack Kittredge, NOFA spokesman, said companion bills have been filed in the Vermont House and Senate that would end U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) money coming to the state to implement the National Animal Identification System.
Kittredge said the USDA is promoting the program as a means of tracking livestock and containing animal disease outbreaks. Critics say the program will not provide Read more
Jack Kittredge, NOFA spokesman, said companion bills have been filed in the Vermont House and Senate that would end U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) money coming to the state to implement the National Animal Identification System.
Kittredge said the USDA is promoting the program as a means of tracking livestock and containing animal disease outbreaks. Critics say the program will not provide Read more
News
December 13, 2006
Surprising exactly no one, a federal plan to track all U.S. livestock
with ID tags remains controversial with farmers. Surprising some, the
U.S. Department of Agriculture has given up on making it mandatory.
Intended to trace disease and to combat -- wait for it --
agroterrorism, the National Animal Identification System is "admittedly
a very emotional issue," says USDA undersecretary Bruce Knight, who has
traveled the country to meet with skeptics. Since its rollout last
year, NAIS has registered nearly a quarter of the nation's roughly 1.4
million farming "premises"; the next step for farms Read more
News
August 15, 2006
BRATTLEBORO, VT - If authorities in Vermont have their way, farmers will have to tell them more about their business. Or face a $1,000 fine. Vermont is the latest state to consider requiring farmers to reveal data on such things as their farms' livestock and size - laws veterinarians say could help manage farm animal diseases like mad cow and foot and mouth in the event of an outbreak.
But in a state where small farms of nursery-rhyme dimension persist even in the face of burgeoning industrial agriculture, the proposal sounds to some like government intrusion on an Orwellian scale Read more
But in a state where small farms of nursery-rhyme dimension persist even in the face of burgeoning industrial agriculture, the proposal sounds to some like government intrusion on an Orwellian scale Read more
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