The Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance (FARFA) is leading the fight to save family farms and individuals from expensive and unnecessary government regulation. Help us protect our food supply and our liberties!
The National Animal Identification System ("NAIS") poses a serious threat to all farmers, ranchers, livestock owners, and companion-animal owners, whether they are organic or conventional, small or large, involved with animals for business or for pleasure. If it is made mandatory, every person with even one horse, cow, chicken, pig, goat, sheep, or virtually any other livestock animal on their premises will be required to register their homes and property into a database and subject their property and animals to government surveillance.
* Join Us at the 4th Annual Farm & Food Leadership Conference, in Austin on September 13-14! Jim Hightower will do the keynote address, and we will have top speakers on animal ID, food safety, Codex, raw milk, GMOs, competition, water, and more! Get more information here
* FARFA submits comments on USDA's new animal traceability framework
* Food Safety News, August 2010: The Senate has released a revised version of S. 510. Read our analysis here. In brief, while provisions have been added to try to address the concerns of small and sustainable farms, they are almost entirely left to FDA's discretion. The Tester-Hagan Amendments have NOT been included in the new version of S. 510. Please call your Senators today and urge them to support the Tester-Hagan amendments if & when the bill comes to the floor. Read more about the bill, including the latest FAQ, here
DVDs from the Third Annual Farm and Food Leadership Conference are available! Click here for more information
Under the earlier plans for NAIS, each animal would have to be identified and physically tagged, in many cases with radio frequency tags or microchips. Factory farms of chickens and swine would be able to identify whole groups of animals with one number, but most regular farmers and individuals would have to identify each animal individually. “Events” in the animal’s life would have to be reported within 24 hours. All of this information will be kept in databases by the state government or private companies, while the federal government will have the right to access the databases as it deems necessary.
Although the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has stated that it is dropping the original plans for NAIS, Big Ag and Big Tech continue to push for the program at both the federal and state levels.
The NAIS does not distinguish between large corporate factory farms and the smallest family farm, pleasure horse owner, or the grandmother with a few laying hens. The NAIS will drive small and medium-size farmers and ranchers out of business, increasing the consolidation of our food supply into the hands of a few large, multinational corporations. The government is wasting your taxpayer dollars on a program that will lead to increased food prices and decreased quality.
DVDs from the Farm and Food Leadership Conference now available! Download the order form or donate online through our Join Us page. T-shirts, hats, and bumper stickers also available
For more information concerning the NAIS or the Farm and anch Freedom Alliance, email info@farmandranchfreedom.org or call (866) 687-6452 (toll free).
