Wednesday
Dec232009
NAIS you heard what I heard?
Wednesday, December 23, 2009 at 7:12AM
The title is supposed to be said to the Christmas tune of "Do you hear what I hear"... And with that bit of ugly humor out of the way, the real question is what have you heard about NAIS? Do you even know what it IS?
NAIS is the Federal Government acronym for the National Animal Identification System. It's a livestock tracking system that is supposed to make the origins of disease outbreaks easier to locate (and subsequently respond to) with the intention of making the entire food system "safer". The program, which is currently optional, requires the registration of the premise on which the animals are raised, the animals or lot of animals and the movement the animals make through the food chain. All this record keeping is the responsibility of the farmer and is accomplished via electronic tracking equipment (RFID tags and receives) that are purchased after the premise is registered.
To some this might sound a little too Orwellian for their comfort. Maybe the government is watching my sheep graze from their satellites? Maybe they know which hedgerow the chickens layed some unclaimed eggs in? These kinds of contra-arguments are powerful and can spur strong emotional substance in their value - which in and of itself is not necessarily logical. I mean, fundamentally - who would disagree that being able to respond to and isolate the origin of a disease outbreak is a bad thing?
So - am I for or against NAIS. Well - kinda both. To me, I guess, it makes some sense to have these herds of 1000's of animals traceable and trackable. As the food supply grows larger and larger on the surface that seems like a good thing... but as always, there's a lot more than what meets they eye. What concerns me is the slippery slope of the government getting involved deeper and deeper in food production - in this particular case - defining large. Also, frankly, with so much of our food coming in from other countries I don't see the real advantage of asking (someday likely requiring) domestic farmers to pay for electronic tracking of their herds when beef from Argentina isn't required to do the same thing. It seems in the end - the real benefactor is not public food supply safety but rather the companies who manufacture the electronic tracking equipment.
Certainly there's a lot of noise out there about the NAIS program. A lot of the concerns talk about manageability, accountability and credibility... three things, unfortunately, I think our current Government leaders aren't very good at. Other arguments start to get broader and slightly less logical - one source quoted an Amish community stating they would not comply because they believe that this is the mark of the Devil from Revelations - where each animal is branded with a number. Well - they have been physically "branding" with hot irons and ear tags cattle for years. To be honest, I'm sure the "value" of another government run program that falls in the lap of farmers isn't a grand as the USDA would like to make it sound - but they do a fairly good job of at least addressing the most inflammatory NAIS concerns with their myth-busting section here - USDA NAIS Myth's.
For perhaps a more independent assessment of the pros and cons as well as a strong primer - there's a "not too old" article in Hobby Farms magazine that really focuses on the concerns we carry. We produce foods for our consumers on a very small - very natural scale. We try to price our chickens (and future livestock) in ways that make them ridiculously affordable to people who want the most naturally raised food they can get from a farm that they can visit and walk on the soil, smell the flowers and taste the berries. Could we voluntarily register for the NAIS program right now - sure. Would it in any way improve the safety and quality of the items we bring forward to market... not unless an electronic tracking chip surcharge on your next fresh chicken makes you feel safer!
NAIS is the Federal Government acronym for the National Animal Identification System. It's a livestock tracking system that is supposed to make the origins of disease outbreaks easier to locate (and subsequently respond to) with the intention of making the entire food system "safer". The program, which is currently optional, requires the registration of the premise on which the animals are raised, the animals or lot of animals and the movement the animals make through the food chain. All this record keeping is the responsibility of the farmer and is accomplished via electronic tracking equipment (RFID tags and receives) that are purchased after the premise is registered.
To some this might sound a little too Orwellian for their comfort. Maybe the government is watching my sheep graze from their satellites? Maybe they know which hedgerow the chickens layed some unclaimed eggs in? These kinds of contra-arguments are powerful and can spur strong emotional substance in their value - which in and of itself is not necessarily logical. I mean, fundamentally - who would disagree that being able to respond to and isolate the origin of a disease outbreak is a bad thing?
So - am I for or against NAIS. Well - kinda both. To me, I guess, it makes some sense to have these herds of 1000's of animals traceable and trackable. As the food supply grows larger and larger on the surface that seems like a good thing... but as always, there's a lot more than what meets they eye. What concerns me is the slippery slope of the government getting involved deeper and deeper in food production - in this particular case - defining large. Also, frankly, with so much of our food coming in from other countries I don't see the real advantage of asking (someday likely requiring) domestic farmers to pay for electronic tracking of their herds when beef from Argentina isn't required to do the same thing. It seems in the end - the real benefactor is not public food supply safety but rather the companies who manufacture the electronic tracking equipment.
Certainly there's a lot of noise out there about the NAIS program. A lot of the concerns talk about manageability, accountability and credibility... three things, unfortunately, I think our current Government leaders aren't very good at. Other arguments start to get broader and slightly less logical - one source quoted an Amish community stating they would not comply because they believe that this is the mark of the Devil from Revelations - where each animal is branded with a number. Well - they have been physically "branding" with hot irons and ear tags cattle for years. To be honest, I'm sure the "value" of another government run program that falls in the lap of farmers isn't a grand as the USDA would like to make it sound - but they do a fairly good job of at least addressing the most inflammatory NAIS concerns with their myth-busting section here - USDA NAIS Myth's.
For perhaps a more independent assessment of the pros and cons as well as a strong primer - there's a "not too old" article in Hobby Farms magazine that really focuses on the concerns we carry. We produce foods for our consumers on a very small - very natural scale. We try to price our chickens (and future livestock) in ways that make them ridiculously affordable to people who want the most naturally raised food they can get from a farm that they can visit and walk on the soil, smell the flowers and taste the berries. Could we voluntarily register for the NAIS program right now - sure. Would it in any way improve the safety and quality of the items we bring forward to market... not unless an electronic tracking chip surcharge on your next fresh chicken makes you feel safer!
tagged chicken, commentary, farming in Farm Life, Politics or Other Rants
chicken, commentary, farming in Farm Life, Politics or Other Rants
Reader Comments (2)
Very well thought out and written. NAIS is an important step, but it ends at the slaughterhouse. All the beef that is imported from Argentina is "boxed beef", frozen blocks of beef,not shipped live with a NAIS-like ear tag. I'm not sure how they track the cattle in Argentina, but Austrailia has a NAIS-like system in place and because of that was able to get Korea and other places to take their beef over US produced beef. So, you can't really say Argentina isn't kept at the same standard as the US. Another small correction, the US farmers aren't paying for electronic tracking. They pay only for the ear tag itself. Most farms, big and small, ear tag their cattle for management purposes anyway. Electronic tracking is just a fairly simple, cheap, database system.
Thanks for the response Fred - there's no doubt that there's a TON of misdirection out there around the system and the process... and there are varied ways to implement things... all good comments in your response... but what I really was trying to convey in the articles is the impact of the cost on small scale farming or even homesteading.
When you are talking about an ear tag for a head of cattle I'm with you on the negligible nature of the cost... (and certainly if solid HACCP isn't in place at the slaughterhouse you just tracked your beef to the front door of a messy situation) but that the time of writing this there was discussion of REQUIRING tracking tags in poultry and swine... in flocks as small as 10 and groups as small as 1. At that level the tags + scanner (no matter how "small" and inexpensive) - you are talking a significant impact to margins. Never mind the loss of productivity in terms of time screwing around "scanning" your flock or pig when the farm is only YOU and there's no help because the operation doesn't warrant it... because, well, name one implemented "control" measure that the politicians have made easy and smooth.
Ohh - thanks for reading too!