- "It is difficult to imagine any acceptable basis for the (USDA) to subject the owner of a chicken to more intrusive surveillance than the owner of a gun." -Mary Zanoni , Farm for Life
NAIS is on its way. Really is it the business of the national government to track how many chickens, goats, or pigs I keep. Do they need to know their birthdays and where they live (their PIN or Premises ID Number.) Is it really my responsibility to notify them (upon penalty of a large fine) if I give one chicken to a neighbor, I must tag it with a RFID chip and register the transfer with the government, the neighbor must register her own PIN and report her chicken activities to the government.
If an animal goes missing (ie, a hawk carries off a poor chicken or one escapes) you would be legally responsible for reporting it within 24 hours. Could the government tell me how I am supposed to get my 30 ladies to stand still for a daily headcount? Perhaps that is one of the reasons for RFID chips, that and GPS tracking...
OK people! I am not crazy. I do not think that the government is going to use global positioning satellites to track the movements of my chickens! But who knows what this technology and system could be used for in the future? There is much discussion that household pets are next.
The National Animal Identification System is coming down the pipe faster then anyone thought. I suppose a good time to push unpopular programs through is when people are "picking their battles" with larger issues... Slated for a hearing today in front of the House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry.
I am amazed that sometimes if I get into a deep discussion on local food with people and start to talk about my fears for the future of small farms in America the response is almost always "The government would never do that!" The problem is they are... When they cams for the raw milk we did nothing, when they came for the unpasteurized cider we did nothing, when they came for the farm processed beef we did nothing, what will yo do when they come for your tomato?
If you think this is bad wait until I tell you about HR 875 - The Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009. Sounds nice and fuzzy huh? Safe & Modern? If half of what I am reading about this is true... I just printed out the 90 page bill, I will ATTEMPT to read it and post about that Monsanto driven monster tomorrow...
