It was hardly a shock on Friday morning when news broke that USDA has decided to scrap the National Animal ID system in favor of a new method of animal traceability. This new approach will shift the burden back to the states who will now be responsible for setting up their own systems.
I have long been in favor of animal ID, not because I enjoy government involvement in private enterprise or because I want Big Brother looking a little closer into my business. However, when I look at animal agriculture as a whole, it is very real to me that we are perhaps always just one devastating disease outbreak away from disaster. America's farmers do the absolute best job of caring for and protecting their livestock. And without question our confinement operations are superior in the protection of our herds against disease. Yet no matter how well we do our jobs, it can still happen. And should that day come, I want to know that we can respond immediately with no question of tracking and traceability.
My frustration with Friday's announcement is not that USDA is putting this back into the hands of state government. I find myself frustrated with the fact that it that it took millions of dollars of wasted money before they were able to realize that their initial approach wasn't working. Maybe it's because I tend to observe things through the lens of a small business owner, but when I invest money into something, you better believe that I'm keeping an eye on it to see if I'm getting any results. And if the results aren't there, I'd like to think that I'm going to figure that out long before millions of dollars have walked out the door.
In real world America, business owners don't have the luxury of staring at problems for a lengthy period of time. We must act decisively, and we must be held accountable for the resulting outcome whether good or bad.
To date, only 37 percent of premises across the country voluntarily registered for the National Animal ID program. In making the announcement about the decision to overhaul the program USDA cited that statistic in tandem with concerns shared by producers at recent listening sessions across the country. Those concerns included the cost of implementation on farms, the availability of technology and a general apprehension about a nationwide approach to animal tracking.
In my own experience of talking with producers across the country all of the above concerns are true. Yet they have been true since the very first day that the thought of a nationwide approach to animal identification first came to light. In other words, a few years and several million dollars later, nothing has changed.
So why is it that it took this long to change our approach? And more importantly, what happens next? USDA has promised that this new state mandate will not go unfunded. That would mean that more money from the national level is going to be transferred to states as they each begin their individualized effort of building a disease tracking system from the ground up. And, with the exception of a few certain standards, states will be given a great deal of flexibility in how they wish to establish their programs.
At the risk of sounding skeptical, I can't help but wonder if the potential establishment of 50 different animal disease tracking programs across the country is really an improvement. The little voice in the back of my head is telling me that while this has the potential to be a better approach, we may be looking at another incredibly flawed execution.
That being said, I wish our state leaders the best of luck in getting these programs in place because they are vital to the welfare of our animal agriculture industries. And, I hope that our future millions of dollars are used more wisely than those precious dollars already spent.
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