The United States livestock industry has continued its intramural battle on mandatory versus voluntary animal identification, even as leaders of the House Agriculture Committee applied pressure for a resolution in favour of a mandatory program during a livestock subcommittee hearing last week.
The National Pork Producers Council and the dairy industry, whose production systems make compliance more economical, continued to call for a mandatory system.
The National Cattlemen's Beef Association and R-CALF USA, whose members could face higher costs for compliance, affirmed their position that the program should be voluntary.
Committee Democrats appeared to be mounting new pressure for a mandatory solution with the end of the Bush Administration.
"A mandatory system would let us know where infected animals are," said Democrat David Scott, new chairman of the livestock subcommittee.
"In order to make this program worthwhile and effective, we need at least 97pc participation, and it seems unlikely that we will ever get there under a voluntary system."
He said his subcommittee is planning a joint hearing with the House Homeland Security Committee to consider the preparedness for an animal disease outbreak that could threaten national security.
Under heavy and pointed questioning by Democrat Leonard Boswell, US Department of Agriculture chief veterinarian Dr John Clifford said in his opinion "the system we have has not worked".
"Unless we can put enough incentive in it for livestock producers to voluntarily participate, it needs to be mandatory," Dr Clifford said.
"The system has to be effective, and this is not effective."
House Agriculture Committee chairman Collin Peterson prefaced the hearing by saying cattle producers who oppose the mandatory system risk a $30 billion to $100 billion loss to their industry in the event of a catastrophic, infectious disease outbreak.
To those groups, Mr Peterson cautioned they should "not expect me to have a sympathetic ear when it comes to mitigating the economic costs of a market disruption".
"I will do what I can to see that the government doesn't bail you out."
While Peterson said he would take a hard line to deny disaster program benefits to those who refuse to participate in a mandatory program, he softened that view somewhat later in last week's hearing.
When asked by Ranking Republican Bob Goodlatte of Virginia if he would approve disaster payments to those who participated in a voluntary animal identification program, Peterson indicated that it could be a policy option.
Interestingly, earlier last week, Peterson told the National Farmers Union convention of a possibility that Congress "would stand the original cost just to get (animal identification) stood up".
He apparently referred to subsidising the costs of tags and readers for producers.
"I don't know if that's realistic or not," he added, but he noted that the federal government has already spent more on the program than it would have cost to furnish the equipment to livestock producers.
In his opening remarks, Peterson pointed out that so far, Congress has authorised $US128 million for the program, and $US107m of that went to a program that cannot fulfill its goal of 48-hour animal traceback in the event of a national animal disease outbreak.
"I can't believe after five years we are still in pretty much the same place despite the millions that have been thrown at the system," he said.
Noting that the full committee is planning a series of hearings, Peterson said it has "lots of questions about how the money was spent by NAIS (the National Animal Identification System), the states and industry partners given the below-average results we have seen to this point".
The new 2009 appropriations bill, which the Senate finally passed last week and is headed for the President's desk, includes provision for another $14 million in spending on the program.
The hearing comes just as the public comment period closes March 16 on a proposed rule by USDA's Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service that would establish "840" as the numbering prefix for the official NAIS numbering system.
In order to use the official 840 system, producers would be required to register their premises.
The rule is online at www.aphis.usda.gov.
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