USDA's Listening Tour Stacked in Favor of NAIS Implementation, says NOFA/Mass
Tour Asks the Wrong Questions
Barre, Massachusetts, (May 6, 2009)-The Northeasst Organic Farming
Association/Massachusetts Chapter, Inc. (NOFA/Mass) today charged that the agenda for the upcoming listening tour for the National Animal Identification System is stacked in favor of continuing the implementation of a program that will do little if anything to improve animal health or food safety in the United States.
"The USDA is positioning these hearings as a forum to discuss 'stakeholder concerns' about NAIS, when the hearings should be focused on whether or not it is needed at all," said Jack Kittredge, NOFA/Mass Public Policy Director.
The listening tour, which was promised by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in a meeting in Washington D.C. last month, kicks off with a day-long session in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania May 15 and will visit six other cities including Pasco, Washington; Austin, Texas; Birmingham, Alabama; Louisville, Kentucky; Storrs, Connecticut; and Greeley, Colorado.
"We think the very fact that the USDA is holding these meetings represents a victory for those of us who oppose NAIS," Kittredge said. "It shows that the USDA is recognizing that there is significant and growing grass-roots opposition to NAIS. Already, five states-Arizona, Missouri, Nebraska, Kentucky and Utah-have passed anti-NAIS legislation."
NOFA/Mass is urging farmers and consumers who are concerned about the survival of the small family farm to sign up to testify against NAIS at the Storrs, Connecticut hearing on May 27 from 9 to 4 by sending an e-mail to NAISSessions@aphis.usda.gov.
"We need to make sure that everyone understands that NAIS is not an effective animal health or food safety program," said Kittredge. "Most animal health problems are the result of the high-density confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) that concentrate thousands of animals in one location, while many food safety problems begin at the slaughterhouse where NAIS traceability ends.
"By implementing NAIS, which requires small farmers and ranchers to track each animal individually, while allowing CAFOs to track thousands of animals under one group registration, the USDA would be rewarding factory farms whose practices encourage disease while crippling small farms and the local food movement," Kittredge said.
NOFA/Mass is a community including farmers, gardeners, landscapers and consumers working to educate members and the general public about the benefits of local organic systems based on complete cycles, natural materials and minimal waste for the health of individual beings, communities and the living planet. It has a website at www.nofamass.org.
Additional Information:
NAIS Alert -- Speak the Truth about NAIS to Secretary Vilsack in Connecticut on May 27!
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