The USDA's proposed National Animal Identification System (NAIS) was originally designed to give the big beef producers help in getting export markets which required disease controls. The idea is that every single livestock animal in the United States will be identified and tagged. All livestock animal movements will be tracked, logged and reported to the government. The benefit is to the big factory farms who probably do need this type of regulation. They get to do single ID's for large groups of animals. Small farmers, pet owners and homesteaders will have to tag and track every single animal.
There are no exceptions - even small farms that sell direct to local consumers will be required to pay the fees and file all the paper work on all their animals. Even horse, llama and other pet owners will be required to participate in NAIS. Homesteaders who raise their own meat and grandma with her one egg hen will also have to register their homes as 'farm premises' and obtain a Premise ID, tag all their animals and submit all the paperwork and fees. Absurd?
Yes - There are no exceptions under the current NAIS plan. The USDA has slipped this plan in the back door without any legislation. This is going to be very expensive and guess who is going to pay for it in higher food prices... You!
There are 2 new bill being introduced in Congress right now that create a backdoor NAIS but of course it is not called that - These 2 bills are HR 814 and HR 875. I have included some highlights below. But don't just take my word for it, please review them yourselves at:
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/c111bills.html
Here is the first one HR 814 - the bottom line is that the Dept of Ag can:
1. Make all farmers who bring an animal to a USDA slaughterhouse participate in this program or the USDA slaughterhouse can refuse them (regardless of whether you are selling your meat in state or across state lines).
2. Farms will need a premise ID to ensure traceability from farm to consumer in order to comply with this bill.
3. The Dept of Ag can send a rep out to your farm to inspect and copy your records for each animal.
HR 814 -TRACE ACT of 2009
This Act may be cited as the 'Tracing and Recalling Agricultural Contamination Everywhere Act of 2009′ or 'TRACE Act of 2009′.
SEC. 414A. TRACEABILITY OF FOOD.
'(a) Establishment of System- Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary shall establish a traceability system described in subsection (b) for all stages of manufacturing, processing, packaging, and distribution of food.
'(b) Description of System- The traceability system required by subsection (a) shall require each article of food shipped in interstate commerce to be identified in a manner that enables the Secretary to retrieve the history, use, and location of the article through a recordkeeping and audit system or registered identification.
SEC. 26. TRACEABILITY OF LIVESTOCK, MEAT, AND MEAT PRODUCTS.
'(a) Definition of Traceability- In this section, the term 'traceability' means the ability to retrieve the history, use, and location of an article through a recordkeeping and audit system or registered identification.
The focus of NAIS is on animal agriculture - livestock and/or poultry including cattle and bison; poultry; swine; sheep; goats; cervids (deer and elk); equines (horses, mules, donkeys, burros); and camelids (llamas and alpacas). Household pets (cats and dogs) are not included as they provided by the department of animal services.
This animal location and movement data will be held in multiple, secure databases managed by private industry groups and the States.
Beginning in 2002 - Using the 9/11 terrorist scare and the threat of BSE (mad cow disease) the USDA lobbied for more control and power.
April 2005 - USDA issued "Draft Strategic Plan and Draft Program Standards" for public comment. The public comment period for those documents ended in early July 2005. Virtually nobody in the "public" knew about the comment period or NAIS at this point. The USDA and its big stakeholders (Big Agri-Biz) have kept it all very hush-hush so that people would not resist this usurpation of private property and rights.
January 2006 - NAIS based rules implemented in Texas and Wisconsin. no exceptions. Later Texas backs down due to strong grass roots opposition.
April 2006 - USDA releases updated document saying NAIS will be voluntary for now if we are good and all signup. See Mafia Style "Voluntary" article. Required compliance level looks to be 100% - see page 3 of April 2006 USDA document.
June 2006 - USDA releases "Guide to Small Non-Commercial Producers" which appears to be an attempt to reassure homesteaders. I feel ill.
Fall 2007 - USDA to publish final rules of mandatory NAIS.
January 2008 - Premise ID and Animal ID become mandatory nationwide. It is already mandatory in some states, including Wisconsin and Texas starting January 2006.
January 1st, 2009 - Animal tracking, logging and reporting components of NAIS become mandatory. Strict enforcement, fines, inspections of properties and confiscation of livestock can be done by the USDA or state government without trial or legal hearings.
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