POLICY UPDATE:  It’s a busy time, with lots of news, both good and bad!

Let’s start with the bad news: USDA moved ahead with mandating electronic ID for cattle crossing state lines. Electronic animal ID is a corporate boondoggle, benefiting both large Agribusiness and tech companies, at the expense of small farmers and ranchers and those who rely on them for their food.  The new rule will take effect in November, and we are in a tough fight to block the rule in Congress before then.

Over a decade ago, we successfully forced the agency to withdraw its plans for a National Animal Identification System (NAIS), under which anyone who owned even one livestock or poultry animal would have had to register their property, tag their animal with electronic ID, and report their movements. That was a huge battle – one that many people told us we couldn’t win.  It took years of dedicated, intensive work in building a powerful national coalition to defeat NAIS.

And yet, in some ways, this new fight is even harder.  The USDA has learned that the plan in its entirety evokes powerful reactions because of its blatant expenses and intrusions into millions of animal owners’ lives and businesses.  And so it is now piecemealing it in smaller, less obviously objectionable bits.

The rule mandates electronic ear tags for cattle crossing state lines – but doesn't mandate the readers or infrastructure to electronically read and transmit the data.  The tags will have a visual component, so people can write down the numbers if they don’t have the readers.  But this is useless, since USDA claims that the problems with the current system stem from people writing down the numbers wrong!  Why do it this way?  Because it allows USDA to avoid analyzing the costs of all the infrastructure.

In announcing the rule, USDA plainly stated that it plans to continue building a “modern” – aka high tech – tracking system.  So the next step will be for the agency to mandate all the expensive infrastructure … and who will be able to object then, when the tags are already electronic?  It’s a clever strategy, and one that in many ways makes this an even harder fight than we faced with NAIS.

Which means we need your help more than ever!

We have succeeded in getting provisions filed in both chambers to vacate the rule: House Joint Resolution 167 and Senate Joint Resolution 98. Call your Representatives today and ask them to support these resolutions! They will prevent the USDA from mandating electronic identification for cattle and bison, preserving the vital component of choice for producers.

Read our Electronic Animal ID Fact Sheet.

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In good news, a pilot version of the PRIME Act was included in the House Agriculture committee’s version of the Farm Bill.  The provision would allow custom slaughterhouses to apply to be able to sell meat directly to consumers within their states, and 5 could be approved in each state to begin with; 5 more could be approved if there are no outbreaks after 2 years.

The House Ag Committee’s version of the Farm Bill wasn’t all good news.  It also included provisions that fund certain conservation programs at the expense of other conservation programs, rather than providing the funding needed for all of them.  It also included the EATS act, blocking local control of how livestock are raised.

Both the good and the bad news are tempered by the fact that the House Ag Committee version of the Farm Bill is unlikely to come to a vote on the House floor anytime soon, so there is time and opportunity for changes. And while there are more discussions happening on the Senate side, no bill draft or hearing date has been produced yet.  So stay tuned for alerts!

Please join the fight – become an Agtivist on behalf of independent family farmers! Sign up for email Action Alerts and make your voice heard!

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