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American Farm Bureau adjusted its position about the National Animal Identification System (NAIS), when AFBF delegates voted in January to support a voluntary, rather than mandatory, animal ID system.

The goal of NAIS is to protect U.S. agriculture by developing a trace-back system that can identify all animals and premises potentially exposed to a serious disease within 48 hours. NAIS has a three-pronged approach: premises registration, then animal identification and finally animal tracking. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) hopes to have all premises voluntarily registered by 2009.

At its annual meeting, AFBF delegates voted 85 percent to 15 percent in favor of a voluntary animal ID program. Farm Bureau members think the program should be voluntary because they continue to be concerned about two aspects of it – cost and confidentiality, said Adam Sharp, Ohio Farm Bureau’s senior director of national and regulatory affairs.

"Cost of implementation has been a major concern," Sharp said. "There’s been no clear analysis of what the cost will be and who will pay for it. Any increasing cost is disconcerting for farmers."

Confidentiality is the other main issue because states have different sunshine law and freedom of information laws.

"(Farm Bureau members) don’t know the impact of confidentiality issues. Is the data going to be safe?" said Bob Stallman, president of American Farm Bureau.

In a letter to Bruce Knight, USDA undersecretary of marketing and regulatory programs, Stallman noted that "USDA’s presumption of confidentiality has never been court tested, so the data cannot actually be proven confidential."

Sharp also noted that AFBF’s position is in line with that of USDA. Federal officials have repeatedly said recently that they want the animal ID program to be voluntary, not mandatory.

At AFBF’s annual meeting, Knight said NAIS is a "voluntary program and it’s not going to go mandatory" in the future. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns recently urged farmers to participate in the program, noting that the program needs to be voluntary because "it’s the wrong approach to say ‘it’s the Washington way or the highway’," he said at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association meeting.

Knight told AFBF delegates that NAIS will be maintained by state government and private entities, not the federal government.

"We have built safeguards in the system to ensure" producer information is kept confidential and used only in declared emergencies, he said. Knight also noted that Australia and Canada already have animal tracking systems in place and said that most likely U.S. restaurants and groceries will request more information from farmers in the future.

Sharp said that while USDA is in support of a voluntary program, members of Congress may disagree and try to pass legislation making NAIS mandatory.

"There are some key members of Congress who want the program to be mandatory," he said.