Long Time Away

Sorry it's been so long since I wrote. Honestly, I've tried several times but my computer hasn't approved of my blogging, so it just kept exiting out without asking. How rude!

I've mentioned NAIS a couple of times, and thought I'd take the time to explain it. It's a federal program that would register every piece of land where livestock travel, such as farms, schools, fairgrounds, and assign them GPS identifiers. Then, every farmer will have to tag every one of their animals, including horses, alpacas and llamas, with a RFID chip (preferred) which has a permanent identifier for that animal. Finally, whenever that animal loses its tag (happens all the time), breeds with an animal from a different farm (genetic diversity, good thing most of the time!), goes to a show, the vet, or goes unaccounted for, the farmer has to report to the government about that "event." If not, they face fines and/or incarceration.

Who invented such an insane scheme? The agri-giants who conveniently are exempt from the individual tagging and tracking, because as we all know, industrially raised animals are so much  healthier, always behave perfectly and never feel the stress of confinement, overcrowding or lack of humane care. (Sarcasm, for those who missed it). They wrote this program up prior to 9/11/01, probably because they were seeing the effects of small farmers, knew that their own practices caused problems, and wanted to control the competition.

Small farms are a $5 billion business in this country, and growing. The USDA has a very hard time taking care of the corporate giants, so we little guys are just pests. Pests that raise the healthiest foods, have the healthiest animals and actually promote global environmental healing, rather than having massive negative impacts such as CAFO's and lagooning manure.

The USDA has been promising for years that NAIS would remain voluntary, though their draft plan stated that it would be mandated in 2009 if there wasn't a 100% compliance by farmers/ranchers. Well, what part of voluntary is that? In January, prior to leaving office, the Bush administration put into action the mandatory aspects for goats, sheep and cows, using existing health programs. That regulation is now open to comments until March 16, 2009. Please visit

http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=DocketDetail&d=APHIS-2007-0096  

and let your feelings be known.

NAIS will not protect against food borne illness. Most of that happens inside the processing plant, not on the farm. NAIS does not reach into the processor at all. We have existing, affordable solutions to tracking food contamination down now. It's much easier in meat and eggs than it is in plants. These products need refrigeration, and have a stricter code of tracking than fruits and vegetables.

NAIS will not keep our animals safe. It will act as a deterent as farmers fear calling the vet because they might be reported if the tag has fallen off, or if they don't comply. Vets will be an official arm of the USDA, more than they are now. NAIS will chase infections, without stopping them. By making more technicians and vets available as consultants, farmers can take better care of their sustainably raised livestock than corporate farmers can. 

NAIS will not stop Bird Flu, Mad Cow, Foot & Mouth etc. The first two are diseases of corporate agriculture, where short cuts were taken, or animals are over crowded. Foot & Mouth in the UK was a government accident, in all of the recent outbreaks. The contamination was found to be caused by lax controls as technicians left the laboratory, or disposed of the contaminant down a drain with a crack, which fed into the groundwater. 

Please, help protect your local food, and quality livestock. Help  us stop NAIS! Spread the word, as the $$$ to support NAIS is much easier to find than the $$$$ to stop it.