Barnyard Boon or Bust? The National Animal Identification System (NAIS)

A program to identify and track US farm animals has many farmers and ranchers angry and suspicious. Now being implemented by the US Department of Agriculture, the National Animal Identification System calls for registering all premises involved with animal agriculture, tagging all farm animals, and tracking these animals through a system of producer-reporting and state-managed databases. Opponents of NAIS worry about data security and cite objections to the program on constitutional and religious grounds. Small farmers, in particular, oppose the program, because they say it will cost too much. According to the USDA, the plan will enable the federal government to trace, within 48 hours, the origin of any animal in the food chain found to be infected by disease. With NAIS, no formal cost/benefit analysis has been undertaken, although work is under way on such a project.