NAIS

[pam]

Know this is kind of a dead topic but found this today and thought it was interestin, it's a anti NAIS bill that the Missouri Senate has passed and it's in the House now........
NAIS will hurt Missouri's economy:
There has been no cost analysis by USDA or Missouri Department of Agriculture 
Costs of the program include the cost of the tags, hardware, software, time and labor 
Many small farmer and ranchers cannot afford these costs 
Service providers (veterinarians, feed stores, auction houses, meat processors, etc.) will be harmed when the farmers and ranchers go out of business. 
Remaining farmers will pass the costs on to consumers, adding to inflation
Neither the USDA nor the state agency has scientific proof show that NAIS will improve disease control:
It does not address the cause, treatment, or transmission of disease, in domestic or wild animals.
It does not significantly improve on current methods for identification and tracking of disease.
NAIS is not necessary for the market. Age- and source-verification is already available through the USDA's Process Verified Program
NAIS will not improve food safety:
USDA itself has stated that this is not a food safety program
Contamination of food with e. coli and other bacteria occurs at the slaughterhouse or afterwards, while NAIS will stop before that point.
NAIS will not protect against terrorism:
The microchips chosen by the state can be cloned, destroyed, or infected with computer viruses, and reprogrammed. Any terrorist or thief can use this.
The database of information, created by the state agency and available to USDA, will provide a target for hackers.
NAIS infringes on people's constitutional rights, including due process, privacy, and religious freedom.
USDA states that NAIS is voluntary at the federal level, so there is no "federal mandate" requiring Missouri to implement this program.
Other states are also rejecting or limiting NAIS, so Missouri will not be disadvantaged by refusing to participate.

[Diane Amberg]

I am totally unqualified to have an opinion on this, but wouldn't the cost of tags, software etc. be tax deductible as a business expense?

[sixdogsmom]

I think the whole problem Diane is the relinquishing of control. It is difficult for some folks to understand the good sense of having traceability of animals. I would think those costs are deductible, and probably the government will end up offering a stipend for it.

[Wilma]

Yes, those costs are deductible as a business expense even if they are not required.  Anything that is used in the process of the business is deductible and ranching is certainly a business, as is farming.

[pam]

Animals are already traceable.

[Wilma]

Yes, animals are traceable.  Just ask any farmer or rancher who has found his stolen animals at an auction ring.  I know that isn't exactly what this is about, but had to throw it in anyway.  My husband used to work with a herd of Angus and he could tell which little black calf belonged to which big black mother without any tags or identification system.  He also knew which big black momma to stay away from when she had a calf.

[pam]

Yeah Wilma, that's true. As for the havin a problem with relinquishing control, in a free country I or anybody else shouldn't HAVE to. Kind of takes the free out of free don't it?

[Tobina+1]

I said I was done, but I'll be calmer this time.
I just wanted to go over the points made by Karma:

Costs of the program include the cost of the tags, hardware, software, time and labor 
Many small farmer and ranchers cannot afford these costs 

The only costs for the farmer/rancher is the cost of the tags.  At the ranch, hardware and software are not required.  The idea is that when the farmer orders the tags, he will have to give his Premises ID, and the mfg of the tags is responsible for submitting the tag number and the PremID to the database.  It is actually the service providers down the line that will need to be able to read the EID number from the tag so that they can also put their PremID in the database with the tags.  By the way, EID tags are $2.00 each.

Service providers (veterinarians, feed stores, auction houses, meat processors, etc.) will be harmed when the farmers and ranchers go out of business. 
Remaining farmers will pass the costs on to consumers, adding to inflation

Farmers get the least part of the buck already.  Farmers will not be passing on the costs, it will be the other service providers that will be passing on the costs.  For NAIS purposes, farmers aren't going to get "premiums" for having tagged animals... truth is they will probably get fined for NOT having them.

Neither the USDA nor the state agency has scientific proof show that NAIS will improve disease control:
It does not address the cause, treatment, or transmission of disease, in domestic or wild animals.
It does not significantly improve on current methods for identification and tracking of disease.

This is true; it does not address the cause, treatment, or transmission of the disease itself.  It is purely to help track an animal back to where it's been, along with what other animals came in contact with that animal along the way.  But right now there is NO way to track a disease!  There are no current methods!  How many farmers have visual tag #100?  We have 3 cows with that number, in fact.  And if that cow is taken to the salebarn, how many other #100's will be there that day?  Like I mentioned before, I see that it's an insurance policy against the government meddling... if one of the other #100's were to have a disease, instead of quarantining ALL herds that had cattle there that day, they could track which specific herd that animal came from and just quarantine THAT herd.  (Of course, it depends on the disease and the mechanism of transmission.)

NAIS is not necessary for the market. Age- and source-verification is already available through the USDA's Process Verified Program

This is exactly true.  There will be no market premiums for NAIS.  The farmer will pay $2.00 for a tag and will not get any money back.  There has been talk of subsidies (and some states are actually giving tags for free if people will participate).

NAIS will not improve food safety:
USDA itself has stated that this is not a food safety program
Contamination of food with e. coli and other bacteria occurs at the slaughterhouse or afterwards, while NAIS will stop before that point.

This is also exactly true.  This is not a food safety program; it is an animal disease traceability program.  To track the disease outbreak.

NAIS will not protect against terrorism:
The microchips chosen by the state can be cloned, destroyed, or infected with computer viruses, and reprogrammed. Any terrorist or thief can use this.

This is false.  The EID chips are inactive.  They do not store any data except for the 15-digit EID number that is actually burned into the chip itself.  No data is stored on the tag.  NONE.  The method for reading the tag simply sends electronic radio waves to the tag, and bounces back with the 15-digit EID number.  Also, the tags themselves are tamper-proof.  Meaning, you can't cut out the tag and re-use it.  If anyone would like proof of this, I have a bunch of these tags at my house that I can show you how they work.  We can even cut one open to see the "guts".  As for protecting against terrorism; the only way it will protect against terrorism is if terrorist infect a disease upon our livestock and we can track back to all the locations of those animals.

The database of information, created by the state agency and available to USDA, will provide a target for hackers.

The database is not created by the state agency.  They are created by private companies that have been approved by USDA.  They are not available to USDA unless there is an animal disease outbreak.  And even then, USDA will only be able to see the data on the EID's that they provide; they can't just go digging around.  The companies are responsible for providing proof to USDA (before they're approved) that they have safety and security measures in place to prevent hacking.  Yes, any system can be hacked, I suppose.

NAIS infringes on people's constitutional rights, including due process, privacy, and religious freedom.
USDA states that NAIS is voluntary at the federal level, so there is no "federal mandate" requiring Missouri to implement this program.
Other states are also rejecting or limiting NAIS, so Missouri will not be disadvantaged by refusing to participate.

This is true.  I hope that it never comes down to making it a mandatory program.  I think it can work as a voluntary program... IF people participate.  Some states are working on making it mandatory in their state, in fact. 

[pam]

Missouri is workin on keeping it out. When it comes down to it we all gotta choose our freedoms. I'll choose mine. What y'all do is up to you.

[Tobina+1]

What I think is a little humorous about Missouri, is that they have a state-run Age and Source verification program (to help their producers capture more premiums for their cattle)... that requires the use of EID tags (the same tags that are proposed for NAIS).  I don't know for sure, but I think the "Source" part of that program also encourages the use of Premises ID.  I'm not sure if an official one is mandatory, but there has to be something to tie the cattle to "Source".

And when you say that "Missouri" is trying to keep it out, it's actually a group of non-Cattle producers in southern Missouri.  They are mostly made up of horse and small animal owners.  Not saying anything against them, just stating facts here.  We have a LARGE number of cattle producers in MO enrolled in our Age and Source program (over 600)... and all of them have Premises ID.