News
USDA’s NAIS decision called “rare victory”
There are more positive reactions to last week’s announcement by USDA to pull back and regroup on its National Animal Identification System, NAIS. A farm policy research analyst says the USDA’s announcement that the NAIS will be replaced is a “victory of the nation’s family farmers over the political power of corporate agribusiness” that’s all too rare. Cornucopia Institute senior farm policy analyst Mark Kastel (in Wisconsin) says in this case, Secretary Vilsack “definitely listened to the will of the people.” He commends the secretary for addressing a variety of issues and says he’s proven himself to be a “a savvy and pragmatic political leader.”
Judith McGeary, executive director of the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance says they applaud Vilsack for listening to their concerns and deciding to “abandon the NAIS.” She says her group will urge the Secretary to involve a broad range of groups and people as it moves forward with developing a new framework for traceability.
The USDA’s new approach replaces NAIS with a focus on states and tribes setting up requirements for animal traceability for interstate commerce.
The Missouri Rural Crisis Center commends USDA for canceling the National Animal Identification System. Crisis center director Rhonda Perry says the decision to scrap the program is “a direct result of grassroots opposition by producers and concerned consumers across the country.” Perry says they knew all along that NAIS “was created by industrial livestock and meatpacking interests to shift the burden of animal disease and food safety onto the backs of family farmers.” Fifty-four of the 55 Missourians who testified during the USDA’s listening session in Jefferson City last year went on record opposed to NAIS.
Perry says the MRCC is grateful to Secretary Vilsack for listening and taking action and to Senator Claire McCaskill “for standing in opposition to NAIS” as the Senator urged Vilsack to hold a listening session in Missouri and expressed to him her concerns about the USDA’s proposed rule to fully implement NAIS.
Perry, a livestock and grain farmer in Howard County, Missouri, says it’s her group’s hope that moving forward the USDA will continue to consult with independent farmers.
http://www.nonaiswa.org/?p=4096 ‘The Wicked NAIS Witch Is Not Dead!”, http://truth-farmer.blogspot.com/ ‘Easter Bunny Reports “NAIS is Dead!’
Just a little reading and research shows that the ‘NAIS is Dead’ story is just that – another of the USDA’s ‘sleight of hand’ misdirection fables. It is just ‘morphing’ into another form which is even more diabolical, and more difficult to detect, and leaves all of the old problems in place and unresolved. No celebrations warranted yet! Don’t allow yourselves to be lulled into complacency – their target date is still 2010.