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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Farmers wary of requiring animal IDs
  • Date: Sat, 21 Mar 2009 17:29:23 -0700



Farmers wary of requiring animal IDs
BY CRAIG CROSBY
http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/6095492.html

Staff Writer

Maine farmers are keeping an eye on Washington these days as Congress is
reviving efforts for a mandatory national animal identification system.

"A lot of these farm groups are really watching this right now because the
farmers really feel threatened," said John O'Donnell, who raises beef
cattle on his Monmouth farm. "They've been trying to do this for several
years."

Rep. David Scott, D-Georgia, chairman of the U.S. House Agriculture
Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry, used last week's hearing on
the national animal identification system, or NAIS, to demand the program
be made mandatory across the country.

Two bills under consideration in the House, HR 814 and HR 759, would force
farmers to identify and track their animals.

"Congress' agriculture committee and United States Department of
Agriculture continue to think national ID is the solution without
articulating the problem," said Russell Libby, executive director of the
Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, who plans to meet with
representatives in Washington next week. "So far they've been unwilling to
listen to the many farmers across this country."

Implemented in 2004 after bovine spongiform encephalopathy -- mad cow
disease--was found in a Washington state herd, the NAIS program is designed
to enable authorities to trace the source of a disease outbreak within 48
hours. The program includes a registration number for each location where
animals are raised, identification numbers for each animal and reporting
requirements whenever those animals are sold, moved or slaughtered.

The NAIS was intended originally to be mandatory by 2008, but lawmakers
made it voluntary in response to farmers' outrage about the expense and
government intrusion the program would create. Small farmers, particularly,
were angered that the program did not distinguish between a family that
owns a single horse and a large farm with several thousand head of cattle.

"It gives (the government) the ability to come onto your farm," O'Donnell
said. "Most of the veterinarians I talk to are for it, but that's because
they've been sold that it's a food safety issue. We see it as a bureaucracy
and government intrusion."

The voluntary program has enjoyed marginal success. Only about 500,000
sites, or 35 percent of those eligible, have registered over the past five
years, according to the USDA. Only about 10 percent of Maine sites have
registered.

Rep. Collin Peterson, D- Minnesota, chairman of the House Agriculture
Committee, said during last week's hearing that the lack of participation
would make it impossible to trace the source of a disease outbreak.

"After five years of throwing over $100 million at voluntary system, we are
still in pretty much the same place," Peterson said. "Even worse, many of
the crucial aspects of the program show little promise of ever being
substantially implemented."

"I believe a mandatory system is necessary and carries with it many
benefits for producers, processors and consumers," Scott said.

Those benefits do not apply to most farmers, particularly those in Maine,
Libby argued. Small farmers believe the program is meant to make it easier
to export beef, but the vast majority of Maine's beef winds up in the local
market, Libby said.

The identification program, while increasing disease traceability, doesn't
help prevention, Libby said. Moreover, the cost of the computer chip that
would allow the government to track each animal easily could erase the
profit that animal reaps at sale or slaughter, he said.

"If you're not part of the overseas marketing program, it's hard to see why
you have to be part of the system," Libby said. "MOFGA's concerns have
really been around making sure we don't require extra systems at the same
time as farmers around the country are having a hard time maintaining
viable businesses."

There are no plans to make Maine's identification plan, dubbed IDME,
mandatory, state veterinarian Don Hoenig said.

"My personal opinion is we need a better system of animal identification in
this country," Hoenig said. "In an animal disease emergency, we're going to
need to quickly trace animals onto a farm and off the farm. The goal is 48
hours. We're nowhere near that."

Hoenig envisions a system that would requires farmers to identify animals
when they change ownership. The data then would be collected at the end of
the animal's life.

"I don't think every animal in this country is going to have an
identification tag or electronic chip," Hoenig said. "This is such a
controversial topic. I think we're a long way from coming to any kind of
conclusion on it."

If there ever is a mandatory identification program, Pittsfield dairy
farmer Tom Cote hopes it applies to farms across the board.

"If the large farm has to do it, the small farm should do it," he said.
"One or two animals can spread something as easily as someone with a
thousand cows."

Most dairy farmers already keep detailed records on their animals, so Cote
is not necessarily opposed to a national identification program, but shares
concerns about the expense and government interference.

"We hate to have things mandated on us," Cote said. "They'll tell us, 'You
come up with how to pay for it.' I don't think anybody wants big brother
looking over their shoulder."

Craig Crosby -- 623-3811, ext. 433

ccrosby@centralmaine.com






  • [Livingontheland] Farmers wary of requiring animal IDs, Tradingpost, 03/21/2009

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