Page 86 - Winter2020

Legislative Updates

LOOKING AHEAD TO 2021
By Judith McGeary, Esq.

Given the general gridlock in the federal this year.
government, Wise Traditions readers are prob- Just how expensive is it to use electronic
ably not surprised to hear that Congress hasn’t ID? The tags themselves typically cost two to
done much on food and agricultural bills in the three dollars, which may not sound like a lot
last few months and is unlikely to do anything until you compare it to the cost of the current
until after the inauguration in 2021. Our work metal tags (ten cents each). And the tags are just
continues, though, laying the groundwork for part of the real cost. There is also the cost of the
2021 actions while we assess the lay of the land. readers and other infrastructure needed to move
Representatives Pingree and Massie have to an electronic system. It’s not as simple as bar
committed to bring back the PRIME Act in code readers in a grocery store. . . think about
the new Congress, to allow small farmers to how close you have to get the cereal box to the
use custom processors to sell meat within the reader, and then think about trying to do that
state. At the recent Farm & Food Leadership with thousand-pound animals, possibly with
Conference, Massie dubbed a revised version of long sharp horns!
the bill, which would allow direct-to-consumer The USDA has refused to provide any cost
sales only (no restaurants or retailers), the analysis of its plans. So let’s look at a real-world
“sub-PRIME Act.” After giving the pun a well- example. One state, Michigan, already has man-
deserved chuckle, it’s important to remember datory electronic cattle ID. Michigan instituted
that those direct-to-consumer sales have been at the requirement under its tuberculosis program
the heart of the movement for this bill all along. back in 2007. The Farm and Ranch Freedom Al-
While it’s disappointing that the PRIME Act did liance (FARFA) filed a Freedom of Information
not move forward this year, the explosion in the Act request with the Michigan ag department
number of sponsors provides momentum as we to find out how much their program costs—not
Judith McGeary
is the Austin, Texas, move forward to 2021. We need to ensure that just costs to the state, but farmers, sale barns,
chapter leader, an Congress remembers the problems at the meat- veterinarians, all of whom are affected by it.
attorney and packing plants during the pandemic (for more You would think that they’d know this,
small farmer, and the thoughts on how to do that, see the sidebar). right? The agency mandates the electronic IDs;
executive director of
the Farm and Ranch U.S. Representative Colin Peterson lost his surely they must have assessed the costs at some
Freedom Alliance. seat in the November elections, so there will be a point. Or perhaps not. After stalling for several
She has a B.S. in new chair of the House Agriculture Committee. weeks, the agency responded that it would pro-
biology from The Democratic caucus has elected Rep. David duce the documents, but only if FARFA paid
Stanford University
and a J.D. from the Scott of Georgia, the first African American to over seventeen hundred dollars! Supposedly,
1
University of Texas chair the Committee. Rep. Scott hasn’t been a the documents are so complicated and difficult
at Austin. She and strong voice either for or against reforms such as to find that it takes high-level employees many
her husband the PRIME Act, so it’s unclear where he stands. hours to identify and copy them.
run a small
grass-based farm Without the documents, we can indirectly
with sheep, cattle, MORE ON ANIMAL ID assess the costs based on the impact of the
horses and poultry. As dicussed in the last Wise Traditions, the program. Every five years, the USDA does an
For more USDA is yet again trying to mandate electronic agricultural census. As it happens, 2007 was
information, go to
farmandranch ID for cattle. In August, the agency announced a census year. Here is what happened with
freedom.org or that it would stop approving any non-electronic Michigan cattle farms between 2007 and 2012,
call (254) 697-2661. forms of “official identification” at the end of as compared with the rest of the country:
84 Wise Traditions WINTER 2020