Farmer & Consumer Groups Praise USDA for Dropping NAIS

by: Jill Richardson

Tue Feb 09, 2010 at 16:24:14 PM PST

Furthermore, Food & Water Watch said that NAIS did not address the root cause of our food safety and animal disease problems:

"Now that the USDA has realized that the proposed NAIS was unworkable, it's time for the agency to turn its attention to an effort that would actually protect consumers," said Patty Lovera, assistant director for Food & Water Watch.  "USDA should start improving the testing of meat in slaughterhouses where many of our food safety problems occur, and fix their inspection policies to make sure that contaminated meat is traced back to the slaughterhouses were it was produced."

Hey NYT: WTF?

by: Jill Richardson

Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 14:12:05 PM PST

"It was just overwhelming in the country that people didn't like it, and I think they took that feedback to heart," said Mary Kay Thatcher, public policy director of the American Farm Bureau Federation, which had opposed the identification system. "I think it's good they've at least said we're going to do something different."

Umm... no. The American Farm Bureau helped develop NAIS and originally supported making the program mandatory for anyone who owned any of a long list of animals, even if the animal was just a pet (like a pot-bellied pig or a horse). The defeat of NAIS is entirely thanks to grassroots outrage, opposition, and plain old refusal to comply NO MATTER WHAT. That opposition stalled the USDA long enough that Congress eventually yanked some of NAIS's funding because the USDA was essentially just wasting all of its NAIS funding, trying to get the program in place and utterly failing. When Vilsack came into office, he set up "listening sessions" about NAIS all over the country. The attendance at those listening sessions was overwhelmingly anti-NAIS.

The listening session transcripts are no longer up on the USDA's site (as best I can tell) but fortunately, Google never forgets anything :) Below, I've posted a quote by the Farm Bureau at one of the listening sessions, followed by a quote by a farmer that is more typical of what was heard at these listening sessions.  

Details on NAIS and Animal Traceability

by: Jill Richardson

Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 08:48:51 AM PST

In short, there will be a new system but it will ONLY cover animals moving across state lines. NAIS would have covered ALL animals (even pets) even if they were born and died on the same farm. The new system will be "minimally intrusive" but it remains to be seen what that actually means. NAIS was extremely intrusive as all animal movements and life events (births, deaths, etc) had to be reported within a brief timeframe after it happened. Also, the new system will use "lower cost technology"... that part is vague, but it implies that microchipping will not be a mandatory part of this program.

The end result will be a meeting in March of this year, followed by a proposed rule this fall. We will be able to comment on the proposed rule when it is published in the federal register.

Below, I've included some of the Q&A's from the APHIS document.

Bye Bye NAIS

by: Jill Richardson

Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 07:59:32 AM PST

In abandoning the program, called the National Animal Identification System, officials said they would start over in trying to devise a livestock tracing program that could win widespread support from the industry.

Start over in trying to devise a livestock tracing system? That means they haven't totally given up. The USDA has a conference call scheduled at noon EST to discuss this decision. I will follow up after that if I hear about any new news on this topic.

Who Really Speaks for Family Farmers

by: Jill Richardson

Wed Aug 12, 2009 at 14:50:36 PM PDT

My family has farmed in Missouri for over a century and I currently raise livestock and grain on 800 acres in Howard County, Mo. But folks like me always seem to get drowned out in Washington, D.C, by commodity groups purporting to represent my interests. The American Farm Bureau bills itself as the "voice of agriculture." A seemingly innocent-sounding group called the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) calls itself "the only nationwide expression of dairy farmers." These organizations spend millions in lobbying and donating money to politicians. In the halls of Congress, in the federal agencies, and in presidential administrations, representatives from these groups exert undue control over the agenda for food and agriculture policy.  

It is near impossible to convince D.C. politicians that these corporate interests do not represent the interests of family farmers. Until now. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently concluded 13 listening sessions to hear farmers' input on the despised National Animal Identification System (NAIS) that calls for us to electronically tag and track the movements of every one of our animals. Factory farms, however, are allowed one group lot ID for their thousands of animals. Over $130 million of taxpayer money has been wasted on this radical, corporate-driven bureaucracy that originated from the National Institute for Animal Agriculture, a group comprised of - surprise, surprise - the Farm Bureau, National Pork Producers Council (NPPC), NMPF and agribusinesses such as Cargill. Only a gigantic outcry from farmers has stopped NAIS from becoming mandatory by its proposed 2009 date.

Keep reading at the link...

Senate Unanimously Cuts Funding for NAIS

by: Jill Richardson

Tue Aug 04, 2009 at 22:25:12 PM PDT

Call to Action: Cut NAIS funding

by: JudithM

Mon Aug 03, 2009 at 05:00:00 AM PDT

The costs of NAIS, in both time and money, will drive many sustainable livestock farmers out of business and place heavy burdens on people who are simply trying to raise food for themselves or their local communities.

Right now, we have an opportunity in the Senate to cut back on the funding for NAIS, an important step in stopping this program.  Please keep reading and take action!

The USDA is Still Listening, and NAIS Still Sucks

by: Jill Richardson

Mon Jun 22, 2009 at 22:14:13 PM PDT

The link takes you to an interview with Rhonda Perry of the Missouri Rural Crisis Center (MRCC), whose oratorical ability the author of the interview compares to that of William Jennings Bryan. Rhonda grew up on a diversified farm in Missouri and currently raises livestock and grain on 800 acres. Here's what she says about NAIS:

MRCC opposes NAIS and is urging Secretary Vilsack to reject this irrelevant and unnecessary regulatory scheme.

NAIS is a solution in search of a problem, and one that will have a severely negative impact on independent family farmers and will do nothing to improve food safety and animal health.  If USDA is sincere in its attempt to protect livestock producers, consumers and animal health, it would focus its resources where the problems have been well documented.

More below...

NAIS Suffers a Setback

by: Jill Richardson

Fri Jun 12, 2009 at 17:20:59 PM PDT

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) has proposed cutting new funding for the National Animal Identification System from the 2010 spending bill, saying the federal government has spent too much money on a program that has yet to be implemented effectively.

As chair of the House Agriculture Appropriations subcommittee, DeLauro controls the purse strings of the USDA. She has been (and still is) a proponent of a mandatory national ID system, something that small farmers and ranchers insist will put them out of business - all but removing consumers' choice for meat, eggs, and dairy that aren't factory farmed. However, she feels that the USDA has been wasting the money they been given over the years to implement the program ($142 million since 2004), and she's sick of throwing money away on it.

Right now the USDA is conducting listening sessions around the country (in which the vast majority of feedback they've gotten about the program is very negative), and DeLauro stated on her website:

"Until USDA finishes its listening sessions and provides details as to how it will implement an effective ID system, continued investments into the current NAIS are unwarranted."

(h/t Naomi Starkman)

USDA Brings Armed Guards To Protect Itself From Wendell Berry

by: Jill Richardson

Thu May 28, 2009 at 12:00:00 PM PDT

All I'm saying is: You don't need armed guards to protect yourself from this man. Unless you are so afraid of the power of his words and their ability to incite a riot. And now that I think about it, that might be a valid fear.

Here's what happened when the USDA went to Louisville, KY for a NAIS (National Animal ID System) Listening session and Wendell Berry showed up...

The USDA is Listening

by: Jill Richardson

Mon May 25, 2009 at 14:07:06 PM PDT

If you are a consumer of meat, eggs, or dairy from small farmers, or if you own any livestock - even just a backyard chicken or two for your own personal egg consumption - this is something you want to pay attention to. Farmers feel threatened that they are being unfairly targeted by NAIS, but as a consumer I am also upset because this system threatens my access to healthy, humane, and sustainable animal products.

Also, I want to note that while this diary is largely critical of the USDA based on its animal ID efforts, I do want to commend them for their efforts to listen. I'm not sure if it's just going through the motions so they can say they've listened before cracking down on animal ID, or if they are really interested in what we have to say, but I have heard feedback from SEVERAL sources that the new leadership at the USDA is VERY good at listening.

A rank and file worker at the USDA told me that she's never in her 10+ year career at USDA met a Secretary of Agriculture, but Tom Vilsack attended a recent meeting of her department's and stayed for over an hour and even took questions. Another source told me that the #2 at the USDA, Kathleen Merrigan, opened her door to all attendants of the recent National Organic Standards Board meeting. And when Vilsack was interviewed before about making the currently voluntary NAIS program mandatory, he immediately said that he wanted to listen to the opposition before acting. However, in this case, I think his goal is to listen and then try to convince the opposition that the USDA can implement a mandatory program that addresses their concerns, and that's something I highly doubt.

Why Is Time Magazine Peddling Bullshit on NAIS?

by: Jill Richardson

Fri May 15, 2009 at 17:00:09 PM PDT

The cost of NAIS is high. According to a study USDA released last week, full implementation would cost $228 million annually. But not doing so would be even more expensive, it found: the status quo could cost the country $13.2 billion annually if foreign markets shut out U.S. meat for health reasons.

That's surprisingly honest. They tally the costs of a disease outbreak in U.S. livestock in terms of exports lost, not in terms of food safety or health for Americans. That's because it won't do anything to help Americans at all. Animal health problems are much more of a problem in factory farms (petri dishes for disease, as some call them) where thousands of animals crowd together in their own manure. In these environments, diseases can spread through the population and potentially mutate into a form that humans can contract. Not only that, but any bacteria on a factory farm is likely to be resistant to antibiotics because the animals receive antibiotics in their feed to promote growth and to allow them to survive the factory farm conditions. In other words, the problem is not the lack of an animal ID system, it's factory farms. That's a problem NAIS will make worse, not better, as I will explain below.

As for food safety? Food safety problems in meat happen in slaughterhouses, when - as Eric Schlosser might put it - shit gets into the meat. That occurs after the animal is dead and when the national animal ID system is no longer in effect (NAIS ends when an animal dies... while a cow may live its life with an RFID tag in its ear, the tag does not stay with each chunk of that cow's meat after slaughter).

Below, I've included a May 12 press release from the Farm-To-Consumer Legal Defense Fund in which they cite a USDA report from April 29, 2009. According to the USDA, NAIS will cost a factory farm $2.48 per cow, whereas a farm with less than 50 cattle would pay $7.17 per animal. The Legal Defense Fund believes that the USDA underestimates the costs to small farmers, but even if the USDA's numbers were accurate, it still shows how unfair such a system will be to small producers. NAIS will make animal health problems worse, not better, by giving factory farms an additional competitive advantage over small producers.

As a consumer, I am outraged that my health and my ability to buy animal products from ethical farmers will be compromised in the name of our export markets. Clearly, the health of Americans and the ability of Americans to buy the highest quality and most humane and sustainable animal products is less important to our government than the ability of people outside this country to purchase crap quality factory farmed meat. We live with the environmental pollution generated by that meat's production and the potential human diseases and loss of the use of human antibiotics resulting from irresponsible factory farming practices, the foreign consumers get cheap meat, and a few corporations get rich. How's that fair?

To write a letter to the editor of Time, write to Letters at Time dot com.

ConAgra To You: "Drop Dead (But Don't Dare Blame Us)"

by: JayinPortland

Fri May 15, 2009 at 08:00:00 AM PDT

The frozen pot pies that sickened an estimated 15,000 people with salmonella in 2007 left federal inspectors mystified. At first they suspected the turkey. Then they considered the peas, carrots and potatoes.

The pie maker, ConAgra Foods, began spot-checking the vegetables for pathogens, but could not find the culprit. It also tried cooking the vegetables at high temperatures, a strategy the industry calls a "kill step," to wipe out any lingering microbes. But the vegetables turned to mush in the process.

Cue ConAgra throwing hands up, saying "oh well, we tried!"  And now?

So ConAgra - which sold more than 100 million pot pies last year under its popular Banquet label - decided to make the consumer responsible for the kill step. The "food safety" instructions and four-step diagram on the 69-cent pies offer this guidance: "Internal temperature needs to reach 165° F as measured by a food thermometer in several spots."

See?  It's your fault if you get sick from the "food" that they sell you (for 69 cents).  Silly consumer, safety is up to you!

ConAgra said it was also trying to apply the kill step to as many ingredients as possible, but had not yet found a way to accomplish it without making the pies "unpalatable."

Heh, as if they were ever "palatable" in the first place.  Once upon a time, we took meaningful action in this country against companies who put profits before people.  Guess we're back in The Jungle these days though, thanks to 28 consecutive years of corporate conservatism in Washington.

As this piece lays out (again), it isn't the local farmer or artisan baker or rancher or cheesemaker responsible for the safety problems with our current food system.  Rather, it's the same agribiz conglomerates whose lobbyists have been entrenched in the halls of power across America for years and years.  Let's make sure that this time we focus our fixes on the real problems; rather than ridiculously misfired shots at responsible small growers, producers and pet owners.

The USDA Takes Advice From Rush Limbaugh

by: Jill Richardson

Mon May 11, 2009 at 05:00:00 AM PDT

"We do not need a listening tour. We need a teaching tour. That is what the Republican Party, or, slash, the conservative movement needs to focus on. Listening tour ain't it."

Cantor got the hint and changed his tune very quickly. But so did, unfortunately, the USDA. That's right - the United States Department of Agriculture. No, they weren't planning a Republican listening tour. They were planning a National Animal ID System (NAIS) listening tour to find out why SO MANY family farmers, horse owners, pet owners, and people who like to buy food from family farmers were INFURIATED by the idea of NAIS.

Turns out, it's a teaching tour, more or less. They want to teach us to like this program that is going to crush family farmers without really improving food safety at all. Each "listening" session gets kicked off with an hour of the USDA talking. That's followed by a mere 2 hours of public comment, and then breakout groups. Consider also that this is planting season for anyone who grows crops in addition to raising livestock, and they only gave farmers two weeks notice about the listening sessions.

You can also submit comments via the internet. You can't mail or fax them in. And an awful lot of farmers don't have internet. So many, actually, that rural broadband is a current major initiative at the USDA.

At the end of these "listening" sessions, the USDA will be able to say that they listened to the opposition before cracking down on mandatory animal ID. Except that they won't really have listened.

Want to take action? Don't just send in comments to the USDA (I will make sure to post instructions and talking points on this blog). Read this article about NAIS and then CALL the office of Rosa DeLauro, the Congresswoman from Connecticut. She's the major force behind this initiative to speed up the implementation of NAIS. Don't email unless you live in her district because members of Congress often filter out emails from outside the district. Instead use these numbers:

Phone: 202-225-3661
Fax: 202-225-4890

USDA's All Cost/ No Benefit NAIS Report

by: AnnN

Thu May 07, 2009 at 16:02:14 PM PDT

In the past few days journalists have been breathlessly repeating USDA talking points on the wonders of NAIS - apparently without reading the report.

My recommendation:  read the full report; it is over 400 pages, but highly entertaining.  The short version, the Overview, is like watching Fox News - skip it.