I read the article “McDonald’s exec: BSE testing adequate, ID needed” with interest. A market driven program is the way NAIS should be done. If you wish to sell a product you must produce it to the buyers specifications. Unless you have a virtual monopoly like Microsoft but that is a different issue.
“We feel very strongly about animal ID. From our expectations (of NAIS), yesterday would have been a better timeline” to implement the mandatory ID system.” -McDonald’s Corp. spokesman Robert Cannell
The confusion is that the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) should NOT be mandated by the government. It should be voluntary and then McDonald’s can offer to buy only from source verified vendors. The reason that McDonald’s wants a mandatory system is so they will not have to pay for it. They do not want to pay a premium for better services or better quality. Typical big corporate greed.
NAIS should be 100% voluntary and market driven. Voluntary market driven Animal ID is proper capitalism and good. Making NAIS 100% voluntary eliminates virtually all of the objections to the program. If you don’t want to participate, don’t. Voluntary means there are no fees, no fines, no warrant-less searches, no mandatory tracking and reporting, no unnecessary paperwork, no Constitutional violations, no conflicts with religion, no fascist, heavy handed, Big Brother, Nanny State, totalitarian Bureaucratic Slavery (BS).
By pushing for mandatory Animal ID McDonald’s is trying to save themselves money and hurting cattle ranchers in the process. In a market driven voluntary system the producers who offer trace-back would get paid a premium for doing so. In a mandatory system there will be no premium because everyone is required to provide the trace-back to the same level, even if it is not desired by the customer. Even more McDonald’s is hurting over two million small farmers and homesteaders. These little people are the ones who are hurt most by a mandatory NAIS because we do not need it yet we are burdened with its costs. A mandatory system is wrong.
McDonald’s is a capitalist corporation, or so we thought, but instead of pushing for good old clean capitalism they are pressing for government involvement to create a system that will be a tremendous burden on producers large and small. McDonald’s is attempting to shift their burden, their costs, onto the little guy - and almost everybody is a little guy compared to Micky-D.
Sugar Mountain Farm is not a big meat producer. On our farm we sell pastured meat 100% direct to individual customers who want to “Buy Local” instead of getting their meat from far off factory farms. They like to support their local economy and get better quality meat from happy pigs that got to free range on real mountain pastures. Our customers already know where their food comes from. They don’t need for the government to add extra wasteful layers of bureaucracy and cost to the system that already works. If our customers want to see their source verified food they just drive by our fields. Same goes for homesteaders, people who are raise their own meat, eggs, milk and fiber - they don’t need the government telling them where it comes from. They know.
We don’t need a fascist big Govi-Corp micro-managing our lives. Support a push for NAIS being kept as a 100% voluntary program. That is good capitalism that will put more money in farmers’ pockets.
i have been going to your burger joint for many years, but won’t be spending my hard earned money there anymore i say no to nais, lois
Comment lois tibbs — March 26, 2006 @ 8:58 pm
Just wanted to let you know I’ve linked this post on my blog.You all have a great site with gobs of info.
This plan is utter madness.
Comment WTR — March 26, 2006 @ 11:15 pm
You’ve hit it right on the head. I’ve been researching the National Institute for Animal Agriculture. This whole thing is driven by big industry, not just the growers and end product producers like McDonalds, but the tag manufacturers, software companies, etc. They’ve been working on this for a very long time. Since the late ’80’s or early ’90’s. I’m so pissed off right now that I’ll probably never eat at a McDonalds or other big chain again, and I’m ready to butcher my own chickens now too. We just keep them for eggs, and I’ve been buying chicken at the store, butchering chickens is a lot of work, but it’s looking more attractive by the day. Mickey -D was actually at the 2005 NIAA Animal ID Symposium.
Comment Joanne Rigutto — March 27, 2006 @ 5:54 am
factory farms are prisons
if you eat at mcdonalds or meat
from the supermarket you are contributing to the torture of your animal cousins.
wake up people and hit them where it hurts.
the system is not worth changing.just abandon it.they need us to make it work($$$$$$$$)
if i don’t see people coming out and vowing to stop eating their poisonous food I will
know this whole blog is just a game
this is more important than just losing weight.
this is your planet folks.
do like the man says.eat organic,but if you can’t afford that eat beans,anything but the meat okay……you don’t need meat to survive,but you do need a planet….
Comment sid sargent — March 27, 2006 @ 5:55 am
One problem, if it is voluntarry and market driven, FINE….NO, absolutely NO rules, regulations or legislation with the weight of law needs to be done at all. Let the market make it. When you apply the term voluntary to a government regulation and the verbage in the thing says it will be mandatory at some point you are agreeing with mandatory, signing up for mandatory as it were.
Comment Doreen — March 27, 2006 @ 7:09 am
I also believe that NAIS, as currently written, is a farce. My fear is when everyone says it should be market driven, is that every packer will demand you have your animals/premise identified under this system, thus making it mandatory to stay in business. They will tell their suppliers that they can only compete if their products are source verified, making the difference between mandatory and voluntary meaningless.
Comment john s — March 27, 2006 @ 11:53 am
No, the difference between market driven voluntary and government mandatory is enormous. With government mandatory a backyard producer wanting to raise their own food is included in the system. So is a small farmer who sells direct to customers. However in a voluntary system the backyard home producer and the small scale producer selling direct to customers can choose not to be involved in the system. To them it does not matter what the packer demands. Realize that ‘the packer’ is not a unified entity. There are many meat packers and their are many end customers. In a good capitalist market driven system the customer can say they want something and pay extra for it. That is market driven. If a particular seller does not want to offer it then they don’t have to. If a buyer does not want to demand that then they can buy from a seller who does not offer it. Our customers already have source verification and trace-back. They know that our animals came from our farm. They don’t need the government forcing an additional level of cost and paper work onto them that would limit their choices. The backyard producer, the homesteader, who raises a summer pig does not want to have to pay extra to be in the NAIS program. They are raising their own pig, slaughter it themselves or take it tot he butcher. Adding government bureaucracy is a waste of time and money for them. A market driven 100% voluntary system is idea. Frankly, the government does not need to be involved and ideally should stay out of it. It is a simple contract matter.
Comment walterj — March 27, 2006 @ 12:32 pm
STAND YOUR GROUND! The USDA takes it’s marching orders from As High up as the President of this ole USA! NAIS is ergulations already issued to the States and the States are being COMPELLED to make them mandatory if possible,as the USDA would want it.. CONGRESS NEED TO BE PRESSURED, but folks, it’s going to take alot of constant banging on their doors, with emails and letter, and phone calls, because the LawMaker’s of the State are NOT going to want to give up Federal Funding, if they stop NAIS..So “We the PEOPLE” have to keep forcing this issue into the light of the PUBLIC MEDIA, and the POLITICIANS..! The U.S. Govt. also want to scare us into thinking the NAIS is here for OUR protection. I can tell you, this is a more SINISTER plan, to control US, as the U.S. GOVT. wants to Control the FOod Chain, which COntrols the PEOPLE (US)..In other words, if a TERRORIST attack occurred involving AGRICULTURE ANIMALS, I can tell you, the USDA is going to take TOTAL CONTROL of the EFFECTED PREMISE’s Involved and at that point the PEOPLE NO LONGER own their PROPERTY Effected, nor THEIR ANIMALS, and this WILL include your dogs and cats folks…..
Comment DeanAFOSI (Iowa) — March 27, 2006 @ 6:57 pm
NAIS;Good or Bad? Here’s some proof of USDA’a Eventual Intentions….Why Do you think, they wabt you and your animals PREMISE’s REGISTERED?…READ! THIS!
Should USDA officially
confirm the presence of a disease, such as FMD, the affected herd and all
cattle, sheep, goats, swine, and susceptible wildlife—infected or not—
within a minimum 10-kilometer zone around the infected farm would be
killed. USDA would wait for confirmation before slaughtering animals to
avoid causing unnecessary panic among producers and severe market
fluctuations.42 If the disease were to spread beyond the initial zone,
authorities would continue to quarantine and kill animals until the disease
was “stamped out.” USDA’s “Crimson Sky” test exercise in 2002, estimated
that, under the current “stamping out” approach, FMD would spread
rapidly, necessitating the slaughter of millions of animals and cause
staggering financial losses—precisely the type of high-visibility destruction
that some experts told us terrorists seek.
Comment DeanAFOSI (Iowa) — March 27, 2006 @ 7:28 pm
NAIS,is a 3 Tier Reporting System! 1st you REGISTER your PREMISES. 2nd, after everyone is Registered, if you take your Animal or Chicken off the Property even to give it exersize, NAIS will require a Satellite,RFID, GPS, “RealTime” TackingChip be inserted in your Animal, so the USDA can track your animal. Then you are requirede to submit paperwork as to when the Animnal left the property, and when the animal came back, within 24 hours of the action. 3rd,,,NAIS requires you to report EVERY HUMAN, who accesses YOUR HOME/PREMISES, within 24 hours to the USDA, by mandatorily makinga photocopy of their Driver’s License, and sending it to the USDA. Ex. If you have thankgiving for family, they must comply with photo ID copying when they come for thanksgiving..If you Don’t? iT’S A $1,000 a DAY FINE! Oh ya, I forgot, they already put up the Satellite in the SKY that will TRACK you (GPS) and also the Satellite, that will Take Real Time PHOTOS, of YOUR HOME PREMISES, to count your Animals and seeif you left the Property….So they can Fine You, when you Do Not Comply! Welcome to the Govt. Keeping You Safe, with NAIS!!!!!!! P.S. I did not exxagerate this comment…It will Occur……Registering is ONLY their 1st step.
Comment DeanAFOSI (Iowa) — March 27, 2006 @ 9:25 pm
I’ve suspected McDonalds and other fast-food joints were colluding in this all along — now we know it for sure. In fact, I wonder if this whole bird flu scare isn’t an attempt to counteract the negative publicity that McD’s and Hardees have gotten lately re: the horrid treatment of the factory-farm chickens they use for McNuggets, etc. (No, I don’t eat there — I’m a vegetarian.) So now we are being told that backyard flocks and free-run birds might carry bird flu and kill us all, so it’s “safer” to eat commercial chicken that doesn’t come into contact with wild birds. What a pile of bovine by-product! If wild birds carry this flu, how come there’s no move to ban hunting them? Minnesota (where I am) is on a major flyway, duck and goose hunting are a big sport here — if the birds were infected, wouldn’t hunters be at risk form dressing thier kills? But the govt KNOWS the problem isn’t really wild birds, it’s factory farms…
Comment rooster-lover — March 28, 2006 @ 2:54 pm
NAIS Reporting/Tracking is Written, to FAVOR the Corporations, and NOT EQUAL. The Independent Farmer/Premises Registered Person (You), and any other average person, IS required under NAIS to ID and track EACH INDIVIDUAL ANIMAL by “separate ID Number” and “Documentation”, however, The AGRIBIZ-Corporations , BY NAIS Regulations, ONLY require the Corporations, to REGISTER an ENTIRE HERD with just “ONE ID NUMBER”. This could be as many as 1,000 Animals REGISTERED and Tracked, as ONLY ONE(1) ID NUMBER. All the Corporations have to do is keep the herd together..(NOW WHO IS GOING TO MISS ONE OR TWO Animals, IF THE WHOLE HERD HAS ONLY ONE ID NO.) Thus the USDA has Played right into the AGRIBIZ-Corporation’s hands to PUT the LITTLE GUYS/GALS out of BUSINESS. This is a FACT PEOPLE, in the NAIS regulations, NOT MY OPINION…
And you WONDER WHY?, the USDA, U.S.Govt., and their Controlled National Media, aren’t Talking…..DAAAA!
Comment DeanAFOSI (IOWA) — March 28, 2006 @ 4:22 pm
Doesn’t much of McD’s beef come from other countries? Does anyone know?
Comment george — March 29, 2006 @ 9:19 am
I put ads, in the www.americanclassifieds.com for FREE, by going to the “Local Buzz” icon, in the website, and submitting a notice to NoNAIS.org. I now have “Local Buzz” ads active in that site’s cities, in IOWA, as follows, for you to examine and get your own ideas in your city. Use the same website, just select your city. Your can renew the free ads every 30 days. Checkout that website at the cities: DesMoines, Sioux City, Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, and Council Bluffs, IOWA. Please go to that website, and select the city or cities, in your area/state, so you can do the same type of thing. It’s FREE everybody. They even posted the NoNAIS.org logo photos. Thankyou to their “Local Buzz” Icon on their website for helping the People of this Country to preserve Our Rights, to Freedom…
Comment DeanAFOSI (IOWA) — March 29, 2006 @ 5:45 pm
I guess the problem I have with saying ‘voluntary NAIS” is that QSA is already an existent program and it is indeed managed by the USDA and it appears that all the ‘auditing and inspecting’ they do are commensurate with ISO standards, hence, it ISN’T actually market driven, but driven by international standards the same as (Codex, OIE, etc.) NAIS….but NAIS is also coming down because of Trade Agreements, so ‘voluntary NAIS’ is actually an oxymoron.
If consumers want it, they should develop the groups to ask producers to contract with them to meet certain standards. No government involvement PERIOD.
Comment Doreen — March 30, 2006 @ 6:24 am
The problem Doreen is that not many are aware that the definitions of our agricultural words has changed and this year will be radically altered by Congressional Agricultural Sub- Committee. Since when did Congress define our words?
The following comes from the National Agriculture Law Center Glossary:
Voluntary program
A program that allows producers to choose whether to participate without loss of market access. The cornerstone of current federal programs is that they are voluntary.
Mandatory program(s)
A program that requires all producers to participate if they wish to produce and market a designated commodity without prohibitive penalty. The U.S. tobacco program and peanut program are examples of mandatory programs.
Mandatory supply control(s)
A program that would prohibit producers from producing or selling more than specified amounts of certain commodities without penalty. All producers of any controlled commodity would be required to participate, with fines or other legal penalties used to enforce restrictions.
So when talking with our representatives or media we need to use their definitions, not ours.
Comment Celeste — March 30, 2006 @ 9:29 am
I am doing all l can possibly do to stop this monster. It is a police-state creation and we all better tell everyone we know…animal owner or not…about this ghastly invasion that is coming at us!
Lynn
Comment lynn — June 2, 2006 @ 1:07 pm
i cant understand how or why mcdonalds can demand any thing, as how the usda is to handle nais.they do use a lot of beef,but i would ask you to call their corp office and ask where most of the beef they use is raised. ask them what country . put pressure on them to tell you.
Comment NICK LeCOMPTE — July 4, 2006 @ 6:54 pm