Meeting set Wednesday on ID scheme for livestock

On Wednesday, state and local experts will come to Jefferson County to explain the controversial animal and premises identification programs to local farmers.

The meeting, which will feature representatives from the state Department of Agriculture and Markets and from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the First Pioneer Farm Credit office on Route 12 in Burville.

Jefferson County legislators Philip N. Reed, R-Fishers Landing, and Barry M. Ormsby, R-Belleville, together with Jefferson County Farm Bureau, are the event sponsors.

As proposed on the federal level, the separate animal and premises identification systems would be aimed at keeping track of animals as an effort to limit disease outbreak.

To do so, the USDA has proposed having all livestock and poultry owners register their property with state and federal authorities, report the movements of the animals and outfit each animal with a radio-frequency transmitter.

In May, the nonprofit Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund filed their intent to sue the USDA and the Michigan Department of Agriculture over the National Animal Identification System, alleging there was no need for such a program. The Defense Fund is based in Virginia.

Jefferson County agricultural coordinator Jay M. Matteson said there also has been swirling concern in the local agricultural community about animal and premises identification programs. He said the Wednesday session is particularly important because local farmers are often misinformed as to what such programs would include.

"From what I've seen so far, there's at least a group that feels this is more a Big Brother-type act than anything else," he said. "I feel that there are some who are emotionally concerned about this."

Among the presenters will be New York Farm Bureau regional field staff member John W. Wagner. Mr. Wagner will present the Farm Bureau's policies and positions on identification programs.

Mr. Wager said those positions boil down to a concern that any identification programs be voluntary with the cost of implementing them shared between the government, industry and producers.

The details of such programs, though, are not always widely understood, he said.

"The problem is misinformation," Mr. Wagner said. "Things get bandied about by word of mouth. The meeting is to try and get the correct information out to everybody."

Mr. Matteson, who expects between 30 to 50 people, said he hopes those at the meeting come to "listen, ask good questions, try to gain as much information as possible."

"I'd be disappointed to see people come in and not take advantage of the opportunity to learn, rather than just to spout off," he said.