National Animal Identification System
The National Animal Identification System (NAIS) effectively abolishes private property rights in farms and in animals.
The NAIS, run by a branch of the USDA, considers “your” animals to be NOT yours, but part of “the national herd.”
Plainly, they are right. If they can force you to register your farm and your animals, you do not own them. They own them because they control them. You are only inventorying property & animals for their true owner, the federal government. In the case of a national default, your animals and your farm become the property of the U.S. government as they would hold the first lien position in your property. If the U.S. were to go bankrupt, they could seize your property and transfer ownership to China since it holds most of America’s debt.
In food processing, the term traceability refers to the recording through means of barcodes or RFID tags & other tracking media, all movement of product and steps within the production process. One of the key reasons this is such a critical point is in instances where an issue of contamination arises, and a recall is required. Where traceability has been closely adhered to, it is possible to identify, by precise date/time & exact location which goods must be recalled, and which are safe, potentially saving millions of dollars in the recall process.
While the federal program is currently voluntary, money received by some states, tribes, and non-profit entities from the USDA through cooperative agreements has been used to make parts or all of the program mandatory.
By registering with the NAIS you open yourself for future taxes.
By registering your car, you pay taxes. By registering yourself as the owner of your home, you pay taxes. By registering yourself with a social security number, you pay taxes. Taxes for being a farmer and taxes on your animals will come, too.
Of course, the taxes will be justified to cover the huge cost of NAIS.
There should be concern that the costs of complying with the program will drive small farmers out of business, due to the cost associated with registering each animal. Small farmers and families that sell off parts of their herds or flocks every year would have to register and pay a registration fee for every head of livestock or poultry, while corporate farms with large herds or flocks that move through the production chain as a group, will only have to pay the fee equivalent of owning one animal.
In this scenario most of the costs of this expensive tracking system will fall on small farms and families, allowing corporate farms increased profits and lower costs. According to the USDA’s NAIS User Guide (p35), the cost of the various animal identification devices range from as little as $1 to as much as $20. For example, as indicated in that guide, an RFID ear tag costs from $2 to $3, while implantable transponders can cost up to $20, plus associated veterinarian costs. Consider the family chicken farmer, who will have to place a $1 visual tag on each chicken, while the corporate farmer will have to tag only one chicken in each flock, giving the corporate farmer a $1 cost savings per chicken, over the family farmer. This disparity will further tip the scales in favor of corporate farms and give them greater ability to out-compete smaller farms, hastening the demise of the small family farm.