We have seen millions of pounds of meat recalled due to unsanitary conditions and a lack of USDA oversight at slaughter plants. These problems are due to no fault of the producer, and this is one place we should be calling for increased scrutiny. The attempt to push liability from the huge corporate packers onto the farmer will not make our food safer. NAIS will not solve our food safety issues.
Also, USDA has continued to allow imports of livestock from countries with known disease problems. Corporate controlled factory farms are polluting our water, creating documented health problems and creating consumer concerns about food safety. And there is a severe lack of competition, especially within the livestock marketplace, such that we have never seen in our history.
The livestock industry is at risk as a result of USDA not addressing these "very real" problems, while instead they insist on pursuing this radical and colossal creation of corporate-driven, government bureaucracy. There are a lot of things USDA can do right now to help producers, and NAIS is not one of them.
If USDA has the legitimate intention of addressing issues affecting producers in our country, it should use its political capitol to address things that really matter, and can make a real difference to family farmers and rural communities, such as:
-enforcing antitrust laws to the fullest extent possible to address corporate captive supply of livestock.
-increasing oversight, inspections and testing at packing plants.
-stopping imports from countries with known disease problems.
-regulating industrial livestock operations, and stopping taxpayer subsidies from going to these bad actors.
-supporting and improving on disease control programs that are proven and effective, instead of wasting millions of dollars on an unknown, unproven and unwanted program.
