The farmer's blog entry was titled "My Political Affiliation Hangs in the Balance." He was writing about NAIS, a program which is going to have a major impact on small farmers in this country, but has received very little attention from news media or politicians on the left or right.
For those of you who haven't heard about it, NAIS is a program which is supposed to make the food supply safe by tracking every piece of livestock in the country. The program is currently voluntary, but the intention is to make it mandatory by January 2008. In some states, like Wisconsin, it may become mandatory before then.
It sounds so innocuous, doesn't it? A tracking system, so that we can watch for disease.
Consider this: Any person who keeps even one horse, donkey, cow, pig, sheep, or chicken would have to register the animal with the federal government if that animal EVER leaves its place of birth. That means an animal has to be registered if it is ever brought to a 4-H show, a vet or a slaughterhouse, or allowed to pasture on a neighbor's land. The intention is to tag each animal with a Radio Frequency Identification Device (though they are retaining the possibility of other methods of ID, such as retinal scans). Every time a registered animal dies, gives birth, loses its tag, or is moves off the original registered premises, the federal government must be notified within 24 hours.
Can you imagine a small farmer being able to handle this much bureaucratic work? And the labor is unlikely to be the only cost. The original registration is free, and the USDA's site points this out prominently. They are a bit quieter about future "costs to producers," though these are mentioned. And non-compliance will be fined at $1000/day.
Who came up with such a strange scheme? Good question. The plan was proposed by the NIAA, National Institute for Animal Agriculture. NIAA consists of Big Agriculture players who are concerned about PR in the light of Mad Cow, and - wait for it - makers of animal ID tracking devices and systems. I see some Department of Agricultures on their membership list, and many councils and professional associations, but not one organic or sustainable farming group. Wonder why? And while we're wondering, wonder why, under NAIS, large producers can register flocks and herds processed together as groups under one ID, while small producers have to register each animal individually? In this program, the more your animals are treated as product, rather than creatures, the better off you are. (For a full description of the program, please click
here.)
We do have a problem with meat safety in this country, but the problem lies in inadequately funded meat inspection systems and the highly questionable practices of Big Agriculture, not in our inability to track every movement of my local organic farmer's hens.
Now, the small farming community is up in arms about NAIS, but this issue isn't even a blink on the radar for the rest of the world. This is an important issue in rural areas, but I have only found one diary about it on Kos.
I believe that is because urban activists tend to be fairly removed from rural and agricultural issues. If the Democratic Party is going to start building support in the West, both the party establishment and the activist community are going to have to become much more savvy about rural issues. Democrats have to stand up and say that this program represents an unnecessary intrusion of government into people's lives which harms family farms and rural communities. This program is a gift from government to factory farms, a way to "solve" a problem that wouldn't have existed in the first place if they had not been engaging in unacceptable practices. And it comes at the expense of the self-suffiency and independence that are part of America's agricultural tradition.
And another point - a lot of the people who are writing about this issue are very religious. They are living lives of voluntary simplicity out of conviction and faith. Instead of spending all of our energy trying to "frame" controversial issues in ways that make liberal views palatable to people of faith, we as activists should consider making some efforts to find ways in which we can connect to religious people on the issues that touch their daily lives. This issue may seem very small in comparison to the Alito hearings or the NSA wiretaps, and perhaps it is, but it will be a big issue to those people who are barely scraping together a living anyway and may lose their farms as a result. It will also be a big issue to everyone who had to pay more money for food as a result. And it will be a big issue to those communities that lose their small farms, and the economic and environmental advantages the farms bring.
And this small-big issue is winnable. The final stages have not yet been reached; the plan can still be amended to make exemptions for people who keep animals for their personal consumption, or those who sell directly to the consumer, or those who have fewer than a certain number of animals.
I hate diaries that point out a problem without recommending a solution, so here's my list of steps you can take:
1) Write to your congresscritter, of course. Also write to the department of agriculture in your state, and the USDA.
2) Support your local farmers financially. Buy meat and vegetables directly from the farm or farmer's market. (To find pastured meat near you, go to
EatWild.) Ask your local markets and restaurants if they carry or use local products. And when you get to know your local farmers, talk to them about NAIS.
3) Learn about this issue. Go to the USDA NAIS site and read the whole thing. Set up a Google alert for NAIS (the sound you hear when you open your mailbox will be crickets chirping). Google Blog NAIS and see what the people who will be most affected are saying about this program.