Post by Tammy on Feb 12, 2010 10:42:44 GMT -5
NAIS Decision Greeted With Rejoicing, Some Concern
Submitted by Editor on Fri, 02/12/2010 - 9:32am.
But Government’s Animal ID Efforts Not Going Away
Chris Torres
Staff Writer
Judging by the mostly negative comments USDA officials got at a May 2009 hearing in Harrisburg on the proposed National Animal Identification System (NAIS), it was clear that the department would have its hands full reaching a consensus on a project they have been trying to implement since 2004.
Last week, the department abandoned its plans to fully implement NAIS, choosing instead to go in a different direction of requiring premises involved in interstate commerce to register their animals, but giving states the flexibility to develop their own program per USDA guidelines that are still being developed.
The USDA has spent $120 million on the program to get producers to register their premises and animals in an electronic national database. Premises would have been identified by a unique seven-digit number, designed to link animals to their location. Animals, or groups of animals, would have been identified by a unique 15-digit number and individual animals would be identified via electronic device.
The purpose of the program was to be able to trace back possible disease outbreaks in animals to the premises at which they originated.
But only 36 percent of the nation’s producers participated in the program, the department estimated.
NAIS faced stiff opposition, particularly from small farmers, who felt the program was intrusive and were worried about the cost of implementing it.
That opposition was brought out during a series of listening sessions USDA held on NAIS throughout the country, including one at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex last May.
The USDA’s new approach is centered on providing more flexibility to states to develop their own systems of animal identification and requiring only farms that are involved in interstate commerce to identify their animals.
The department will provide guidance and funds to help with implementation.
At last Friday’s Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) Conference in State College, Pa., the crowd erupted in applause and cheering when PASA Executive Director Brian Snyder announced he had heard that “NAIS was dead” from someone he knew at the Rodale Institute.
Responding by e-mail Tuesday, Snyder wrote “The end of the government’s plan to implement NAIS represents a huge victory for the increasing number of farmers who are selling directly to consumers and staking their reputations on farm products, which means a whole lot more than an ID number maintained somewhere in a federal database.
“It is also a welcome indication that USDA was actually listening in the ‘listening sessions’ they held around the country last year.”
Several other agriculture organizations voiced their support for the decision.
“The USDA’s announcement to fold their tent on the current NAIS proposals is an all-too-rare victory of the nation’s family farmers over the political power of corporate agribusiness,” said Mark Kastel, senior farm policy analyst at the Cornucopia Institute, through a statement issued Friday.
Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund-United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF USA) sent a letter Friday to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack praising his decision to rethink the department’s approach.
In a statement released Friday, the organization thanked Vilsack for his “receptiveness to the interests of U.S. cattle farmers and ranchers.”
But not everyone is so thrilled with the decision.
Dave McElhaney, a cow-calf producer from Hookstown, Pa. with 80 head of Shorthorn cattle, was disappointed to hear the USDA was abandoning their efforts to get all premises and animals registered.
“It’s somewhat disappointing that folks can’t see the overall good that animal ID offers,” McElhaney said. “That being said, it’s also refreshing to see that USDA is trying to cater it to fit to the multiple people that had issues with NAIS.”
McElhaney placed electronic tags on his entire herd around the time NAIS was proposed in 2004. He estimates it cost him $3.75 per head to put the tags on.
He has found the system to be helpful in terms of managing his herd. When one of his animals is placed on a scale, he uses a reader to record information about the animal. He can then download that information onto his computer and keep track of his animals’ performance.
“I don’t have to write down anything. I don’t have to have a whole file or records. You can’t measure their performance unless they are identified, it’s that simple,” he said.
Mark O’Neill, spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, said the failure of NAIS was a result of bad information about the purpose of the program.
“I think a big problem has been, there was a lot of bad information out there about what this system was going to do,” O’Neill said. “The tags themselves produced inaccurate information. All of this bad information and wrong information really muddled up the system that was trying to be put into place.”
O’Neill said the bureau supports a mandatory identification system, as long as it is cost-effective, protects producer information, and protects producers from liabilities once the animal is off the farm.
According to O’Neill, Pennsylvania is already way ahead of other states in terms of getting premises registered and identifying animals and they have encouraged producers to participate.
Chris Herr, executive vice-president of PennAg Industries, said the poultry industry has been registering farms ever since a 1982 outbreak of avian influenza.
The program, which was industry-driven, includes a database of locations of poultry houses that is maintained by the University of Pennsylvania.
“I feel pretty good about what we have in place. Within five or 10 minutes of a suspected positive outbreak of avian influenza, they can notify everybody in the industry within minutes of receiving a suspected positive,” Herr said.
Herr noted that it has been easier to implement this system in poultry because the industry is so vertically integrated.
There is currently work on developing “spray-on” tags to be used for birds entering the live bird market.
lancasterfarming.com/node/2801
Submitted by Editor on Fri, 02/12/2010 - 9:32am.
But Government’s Animal ID Efforts Not Going Away
Chris Torres
Staff Writer
Judging by the mostly negative comments USDA officials got at a May 2009 hearing in Harrisburg on the proposed National Animal Identification System (NAIS), it was clear that the department would have its hands full reaching a consensus on a project they have been trying to implement since 2004.
Last week, the department abandoned its plans to fully implement NAIS, choosing instead to go in a different direction of requiring premises involved in interstate commerce to register their animals, but giving states the flexibility to develop their own program per USDA guidelines that are still being developed.
The USDA has spent $120 million on the program to get producers to register their premises and animals in an electronic national database. Premises would have been identified by a unique seven-digit number, designed to link animals to their location. Animals, or groups of animals, would have been identified by a unique 15-digit number and individual animals would be identified via electronic device.
The purpose of the program was to be able to trace back possible disease outbreaks in animals to the premises at which they originated.
But only 36 percent of the nation’s producers participated in the program, the department estimated.
NAIS faced stiff opposition, particularly from small farmers, who felt the program was intrusive and were worried about the cost of implementing it.
That opposition was brought out during a series of listening sessions USDA held on NAIS throughout the country, including one at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex last May.
The USDA’s new approach is centered on providing more flexibility to states to develop their own systems of animal identification and requiring only farms that are involved in interstate commerce to identify their animals.
The department will provide guidance and funds to help with implementation.
At last Friday’s Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) Conference in State College, Pa., the crowd erupted in applause and cheering when PASA Executive Director Brian Snyder announced he had heard that “NAIS was dead” from someone he knew at the Rodale Institute.
Responding by e-mail Tuesday, Snyder wrote “The end of the government’s plan to implement NAIS represents a huge victory for the increasing number of farmers who are selling directly to consumers and staking their reputations on farm products, which means a whole lot more than an ID number maintained somewhere in a federal database.
“It is also a welcome indication that USDA was actually listening in the ‘listening sessions’ they held around the country last year.”
Several other agriculture organizations voiced their support for the decision.
“The USDA’s announcement to fold their tent on the current NAIS proposals is an all-too-rare victory of the nation’s family farmers over the political power of corporate agribusiness,” said Mark Kastel, senior farm policy analyst at the Cornucopia Institute, through a statement issued Friday.
Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund-United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF USA) sent a letter Friday to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack praising his decision to rethink the department’s approach.
In a statement released Friday, the organization thanked Vilsack for his “receptiveness to the interests of U.S. cattle farmers and ranchers.”
But not everyone is so thrilled with the decision.
Dave McElhaney, a cow-calf producer from Hookstown, Pa. with 80 head of Shorthorn cattle, was disappointed to hear the USDA was abandoning their efforts to get all premises and animals registered.
“It’s somewhat disappointing that folks can’t see the overall good that animal ID offers,” McElhaney said. “That being said, it’s also refreshing to see that USDA is trying to cater it to fit to the multiple people that had issues with NAIS.”
McElhaney placed electronic tags on his entire herd around the time NAIS was proposed in 2004. He estimates it cost him $3.75 per head to put the tags on.
He has found the system to be helpful in terms of managing his herd. When one of his animals is placed on a scale, he uses a reader to record information about the animal. He can then download that information onto his computer and keep track of his animals’ performance.
“I don’t have to write down anything. I don’t have to have a whole file or records. You can’t measure their performance unless they are identified, it’s that simple,” he said.
Mark O’Neill, spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, said the failure of NAIS was a result of bad information about the purpose of the program.
“I think a big problem has been, there was a lot of bad information out there about what this system was going to do,” O’Neill said. “The tags themselves produced inaccurate information. All of this bad information and wrong information really muddled up the system that was trying to be put into place.”
O’Neill said the bureau supports a mandatory identification system, as long as it is cost-effective, protects producer information, and protects producers from liabilities once the animal is off the farm.
According to O’Neill, Pennsylvania is already way ahead of other states in terms of getting premises registered and identifying animals and they have encouraged producers to participate.
Chris Herr, executive vice-president of PennAg Industries, said the poultry industry has been registering farms ever since a 1982 outbreak of avian influenza.
The program, which was industry-driven, includes a database of locations of poultry houses that is maintained by the University of Pennsylvania.
“I feel pretty good about what we have in place. Within five or 10 minutes of a suspected positive outbreak of avian influenza, they can notify everybody in the industry within minutes of receiving a suspected positive,” Herr said.
Herr noted that it has been easier to implement this system in poultry because the industry is so vertically integrated.
There is currently work on developing “spray-on” tags to be used for birds entering the live bird market.
lancasterfarming.com/node/2801
