I know you are all anxious to read the rest of my bacon post, but I have somthing that has REALLY been on my mind lately. Especially with a new administration coming into office with in a short few days. Have any of you hear about NAIS? Before I explain what it is, I want to know if any of you know anything about it. It affects ALL of you wether you know it or not and is VERY VERY VERY vital for the farming industry. It means the ultimate death of the family farm as we know it. SO - tell me what you know would you please?
"By choosing to participate in NAIS, you will join a national disease response network built to protect your animals, your neighbors, and your economic livelihood against the devastation of a foreign animal disease outbreak."
ReplyDeleteFrom the NAIS website...
I would really have to do some research on the negative and the positive aspects of participating in such a program, but right off the bat, it seems as if it is a registry that can track more accurately where unhealthy animals are originating from.
I know governmental involvement is never a route that most farmers or growers would want to naturally peruse, but it may be that you are voluntarily reporting for the good of the economic viability of the family owned farm.
Those are just my initial reactions, but like I said...give me a chance to digest the program and I will let you know more.
Sometimes more governmental involvement isn't a bad thing...look at the creation of the EPA and how that has helped to stop continued contamination from very bad chemicals and our exposure to them.
Marlene
Big Brother is going to count our sheep along with our cattle, pigs, horses... To sum it up the government wants anything with four legs accounted for by micro-chipping.
ReplyDeleteIMHO, it is a costly program not warranted. With the implementation of COOL imports on beef and pork are already down. Americans want beef, pork, vegetables from American Farms.
I'm delighted with the resurgence of victory gardens and I hope more city folks will consider buying a freezer to buy local meats. Sorry didn't mean to write a post here...LOL, I'm rather passionate on certain topics.
Amen St Fairsted Farm!!! I am TOTALLY OPPOSED to NAIS. Big Brother has their greedy grubby dirty paws in too much now as it is- handing over our livestock is NOT another thing that needs to be done.
ReplyDeletePS- Heidi, I MISS YOU!!!
ReplyDeleteGood mornin' Heidi,
ReplyDeleteI'm one of those that foloow your blog everyday but don't always comment. I have missed you this last week and I also suggested to At home with the farmers wife that we out here would love to see pictures of the whold family or at least all five boys. You could just tell me to mind my own business. LOL
I'm sorry I don't more about NAIS. I try to keep as far away from government and politics as I can. Sooooooo depressing!!
Miss Lila in Atlanta
I believe this is the USDA's baby. If it ever becomes mandatory to microchip and keep records on all your animals sent to slaughter it will certainly force many small family farms out of business. The big operations will survive. IMHO it is a way to screw over the small farmer once again:(
ReplyDeleteDon't get me going about the USDA. I'm all for safe food but their policies are too much. The Farmer deals with this every day. Can you imagine having to account for the exact field that every stinking leaf of basil is grown in??? Yes.... it's true!!
ReplyDelete- Suzanne, the Farmer's Wife
Oh...not a good subject! Here, BIL's 14 yr old son has been raising, selling, & showing chickens for 5 years. NOT any longer! Just put a young aspiring entrepreneur out of biz!
ReplyDeleteJust more Gvt control...WA tried 'forcing' it a few years ago, and it didn't cut the mustard. Let's hope it never does!
Anything like this that the government gets control of ... you lose control. You give up your freedom and free agency. Once they get their nose in the door ... every bureaucrat is going to come up with more regulations after more regulations so they look good on their job evaluation reports. That's how they justify their job. They could care less if it drives you into the ground. It looks good on their report and they keep their job.
ReplyDeleteI had not heard of NAIS until I read your post. I looked it up and got a basic overview,then read the responses here. It really does sound like this would put small farmers out of business.
ReplyDeleteMy parents have been cranberry farmers for 46 years. During that time they've had to comply with ever-demanding and more ridiculous government controls and programs that seem to grow exponentially with time. At first these changes weren't too bad and even made sense, such as ceasing to use Parathion and malathion. However, in the past 15 to 20 years the requirements US farmers must meet and the hoops they must jump through have become ridiculous and have negatively impacted not only their finances, but the crops are inferior as well. I could write a novel, but I shan't bore you with details. Anyway, the food manufacturers, want their raw product cheaply too... enter NAFTA and the like. Cranberries are now grown in Canada (which is fine because their standards are pretty high too) or in Chile because the fruit costs less. And why shouldn't it when the farmers there don't have to juggle changing requirements or meet many of the same standards. I guess my point to this whole diatribe is this... no matter how safe the USDA tries to make domestic food, it doesn't benefit the consumer when our food is imported. And once ALL of our food is grown elsewhere then we'll be really screwed as a nation.
ReplyDeleteI guess there is alot to this i dont know , ergo , i cannot make an informed comment . It SEEMS to me as a layman that the bulk of the problems That John Q Public hear about are the "Mad Cow " Variety , and that cause is known . And Should be addressed .
ReplyDeleteHowever , as with all things Political , to many times all the "Good Intentions" of the few are railroaded into a " Bad situation" for the many .
As for the "Political Power " in office , i suspect stuff like this will continue to happen no matter who is in office , manily because Gov, has gotten so big and corrupt that even those who do have good intent are in battle they cannot win ! " steps off soapbox "
Amen Coffeeman.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to the days of, "FOR The People, BY The People"? ...
HEIDI!!! WE MISS YOU!!!
Heidi, I have something for you on my blog!
ReplyDeleteVery scary stuff--can we have sum bacon instead? puh-lease???
ReplyDeleteI am very worried about this and hope it goes away. It will kill that small family farm. And until they force us we are going to fight it. Us and everyone we know it our little neighborhood of famers.
ReplyDeleteLindahttp://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
There is a resounding comment, that disturbs me- "It will kill the family farm." By golly I'll be an "outlaw" or in the words of Sarah Palin "a maverick" before I succumb to NAIS.
ReplyDeleteRecall prohibition? Some of you may not be old enough... it was ban on alcohol, it actually made alcohol more desired. It is a human desire to have what you cannot. LOOK at Media.
I will sell my chickens, pork, beef at the farm gate, before I will microchip them to be tracked by satellite. That was not God's intentions when he created humans or animals for our consumption.
COOL (Country of Origin Labeling) has now been in effect since Sept 08. All meat, fish, and produce must be labeled to where it has been grown. I love the program! They originally tried to piggy back NAIS on this program; Thank the Lord it didn't work. Since the implementation of COOL Canada & Mexico imports of beef have reduced significantly. Americans want American raised/ Grown meats & produce.
Okay I really have to stop or Heidi is going to shoot me for writing a novel on her comments.
Heidi, this is an excellent topic and I can hardly wait for your post. Thank you for allowing me to share my passion on subjects that our dear to me.
There is a resounding comment, that disturbs me- "It will kill the family farm." By golly I'll be an "outlaw" or in the words of Sarah Palin "a maverick" before I succumb to NAIS.
ReplyDeleteRecall prohibition? Some of you may not be old enough... it was ban on alcohol, it actually made alcohol more desired. It is a human desire to have what you cannot. LOOK at Media.
I will sell my chickens, pork, beef at the farm gate, before I will microchip them to be tracked by satellite. That was not God's intentions when he created humans or animals for our consumption.
COOL (Country of Origin Labeling) has now been in effect since Sept 08. All meat, fish, and produce must be labeled to where it has been grown. I love the program! They originally tried to piggy back NAIS on this program; Thank the Lord it didn't work. Since the implementation of COOL Canada & Mexico imports of beef have reduced significantly. Americans want American raised/ Grown meats & produce.
Okay I really have to stop or Heidi is going to shoot me for writing a novel on her comments.
Heidi, this is an excellent topic and I can hardly wait for your post. Thank you for allowing me to share my passion on subjects that our dear to me.
In a sad state of affairs, last year several children and FFA kids WERE NOT allowed to show or sell thier animals at the local 4-H Livestock show and sale UNTIL they microchipped them and any other animals on the place. That included all turkeys, rabbits, horses, sheep, goats, chickens, cows, pigs and anything else that could be shown AND sold. MY was there ever an uproar.
ReplyDeleteThe upshoot of the whole thing is....the families did as told or the kids would not (couldn't) compete. Some stalwart families (like us) sold from the farm to people who wanted well-raised meat.
The downside was....all the work the kids did was not recognized.
We are a strong believer in COOL, this other program...not good. Anytime someone can track you, anytime you have report when you move your animals from one field to the next (for greener pastures) any time someone can tell you how to function....well
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
Sorry no longer following your blog.
ReplyDeleteReally tired of checking 3 or 4 times a day and no post.
I don't have a blog, but I think if I went to all the trouble to create a blog and have many followers that cared about me and my family and that they may be concerned abut me that I would show them the common curtesy of either posting or letting folks know if something's wrong. But of course that was what I would do if I had a blog.
Goodbye, hope all is well with the family.
lilahuggins@gmail.com
Heidi - I love your blog. I read it often but this is the first I've posted (I think). I thought that NAIS was 'shelved' a few months ago. Or maybe thats just wishful thinking on my part. I can't imagine the devastation it would cause the small farming community. Dang, can't do a thing without some governmental agency sniffing around. One of my NY goat friends actually was contacted by a NAIS rep.
ReplyDeleteTake care and hope all is well with you and yours! We're cold here (7 this am) but not as cold as you!
Beth in PA
I'm a dummy here....will read your comments to learn more.
ReplyDelete((( HUGS )))