The USDA is playing with numbers. Their web site now says:
Previously, NAIS used a total premises number count from the National Agriculture Statistics Survey (NASS) of 2.1 million livestock farms in the United States. USDA recently learned that the survey for this statistic counted locations for each species a producer owned. Accordingly, the statistic of 2.1 million includes duplications for those operations with more than one livestock commodity, representing an inflated estimate of the number of premises.
At USDA’s request, NASS recalculated the statistic to remove such duplications. The resulting estimate from NASS is 1.4 million livestock farms in the United States. This estimate is based on the best available information and offers a more accurate figure for the purposes of NAIS.
-USDA on Registrations
What makes this particularly interesting is that other estimates put the number of “livestock operations” far higher, perhaps over 10 million including the backyards. Remember, the USDA is saying they want to register every premises, tag every animal and track every movement right down to the backyard level. Think for a moment, there are 2,000,000 horse owners alone in the USA and that is just one covered species under NAIS! Obviously there are more than 1.4 million “livestock operations” under the definition of NAIS (any location holding any covered animal).
So why did the USDA do this revision of the number of livestock premises? Previously they had been talking about going for 100% compliance Perhaps they’re revising the data so they can achieve their goal. The old goal, all premises down to the backyard level was unobtainable. They saw this both in the level of resistance and maybe realized that even with stiff laws on driving without a license not everyone gets an driving license and not everyone registers their cars or dogs where that is required. People don’t comply. 100% compliance is impossible. So they need to change their tune.
So, rather than admit that they can’t achieve their goal, that the basic goal is not only unobtainable but is a bad goal, they are revising the numbers to make it look like they are closer to their goal than they really are. Consider, they have about 300,000 premises registered. If the goal is 2.1 million then they are 14% of the way to their goal. But, if they revise the goal to 1.4 million as they have just done then they instantly jump ahead 50% to 21% of their goal! Wow! Look at all the progress they’ve made! Aren’t they fabulous!!!
So why would the USDA want to lie with numbers like this? Nooo… I mean beyond the obvious that they are from the government. You, there, in the back of the class waving your hand… “Congressional approval!” she shrieks. Very good! Remember back in the spring the US Congress said that the USDA must provide data about the costs of NAIS? Well, if there are fewer farms and the USDA has already achieved a larger percentage of their goal with the existing money spent then they are spending less per farm converted. It’s all a numbers game, something the Govi-Corp is very good at.
Maybe they’re just going to ignore the very small producers and livestock owners, the pet owners, the backyarders, the micro-farmers. Perhaps they’ve realized that the cost of 100% compliance, the cost to get that last 10% is astronomical. Budgets are tight. The Democrats, bless their greedy little turncoat hearts, have said no new spending without other cuts or tax increases. This is good to hear. Perhaps we can nail NAIS on the funding.
Of course, there is one more possibility. Kerr is going, going, gone. Maybe we’re going to see more turnover at the USDA. Perhaps the rabid Dr. John Wiemers will be sacked. He’s the one who is quoted as have having said he’ll hunt us all down, driving every back road in America to do it, registering every backyard chicken. We don’t need people like that.
What we do need is people who can see the difference between Grandma’s backyard hen house or a small local farmer vs big farmers and Big Agri-Corps. In the past the latter two have held too much sway at the USDA. The USDA’s job is to serve us all - one person, one vote. Micro-farmers and homesteaders outnumber the Mega-Corps and Big-Ag by orders of magnitude. Maybe there will be new people who are friendlier to the small farmers
*snap* *snap* *snap of fingers* Dang, was I dreaming again… Pass the smelling salts.
“There are lies, damn lies and statistics.” -M. Twain & others
