Why in the world does the federal government have to involve itself in America’s farm industry?
The National Animal Identification System (NAIS) is a federal program that monitors farm animals. Under the NAIS, small farmers and families will have to register and pay a registration fee for every head of livestock or poultry, tag each animal when it leaves its birthplace, and report a long list of movements to a database within 24 hours. Animals that must be tagged include chickens, horses, cows, sheep, goats, pigs, llamas, alpacas, elk, deer, bison, and turkeys.
Thus, NAIS establishes total control over the private property of individual small farmers and puts them at risk to go broke via regulation.
The Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance outlines many concerns with the federal program. Most importantly, the system will not protect animals against disease, improve the safety of food supply, or stop bioterrorism. So why are so many of our “leaders” behind the program?
The Alliance discovered that federal and state governments, microchip manufacturers, database software and management companies, and database development companies all stand to benefit from NAIS.
In 2006, Ron Paul introduced an Amendment to defund NAIS. Thirty-four Representatives voted for his Amendment. A list of those Representatives can be found HERE. Members of Congress endorsed by the RLC, such as Jeff Flake, Roscoe Bartlett, Jimmy Duncan, Trent Franks, and John Shadegg, were among those who voted to defund the federal boondoggle.
A lawsuit was filed this week against the Michigan and U.S. Departments of Agriculture. According to a spokesman for the group who filed the lawsuit, “We are asking the court to immediately halt implementation of the program nationwide before more farmers and ranchers are strong-armed into participating in a program that the USDA has called voluntary.”
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