Please contact National Public Radio (NPR) to let them know about the government’s intrusive, tax wasting, unconstitutional program that will destroy small farms and hurt homesteaders. The USDA’s proposed National Animal Identification System will increase food prices and limit choice as our national food supply becomes concentrated into the hands of fewer and fewer large corporations. This hurts are individual independence and makes our country more susceptible to disasters and terrorist attacks. People need to know about this.
Here is my letter to NPR (All Things Considered):
I would like to ask you to investigate an abuse of our freedoms and invasion of our privacy. Under the USDA’s proposed draft of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) the government plans to chip all livestock in the United States - from herds of cattle right down to grandma’s one backyard laying hen. Everyone with any animals will be required to get a GPS based Premise ID number.
This burden falls heaviest on the very smallest farms and poorest members of our society. Large factory farms get to use one Group ID for tens of thousands of animals but homesteaders and small farmers will have to tag every single one of their mixed age flock animals. The fees, tag costs, equipment costs and time all act as a hidden tax on our food. We’ll have to report all animal movements to the government including sales, slaughter, trail rides, etc. Some states are even extending this to cats, dogs and pet birds like parrots and canaries. In addition to trampling all over the Constitution this will bankrupt many small farmers and make it difficult for rural folk to raise their own food. Ultimately it will result in less choice and higher prices for food as our national food supply is consolidated into the hands of fewer and fewer large corporate factory farms.
For more information please visit http://NoNAIS.org and also see http://NoNAIS.org/handout for an overview of the topic.
Thank you,
Walter Jeffries
Sugar Mountain Farm
in Vermont