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National Independent
Consumers and Farmers Association (NICFA)
Letter
to Bruce Knight, USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs
5 March, 2008
Dear Mr. Knight,
Thank you for meeting with us today to discuss issues
of importance to the small farmers of
Earlier today, we hosted a reception for our federal
legislators where we joyfully served food produced by independent unsubsidized
farmers, from animals without Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags,
raised on open pastures on grass--not subsidized GMO grain, on private
properties without Premises Registration numbers, with soils enriched by
ecologically harmonious amendments like sea salt, compost, and natural mineral
sources.
In short, we are not part of the industrial
agriculture system.
We are the rich tradition of heritage farming. We are
your local community family farm. We are your neighbors. Some of us are
organically certified, some of us are beyond organic.
The USDA’s proposed National Animal
Identification System (NAIS), and its concomitant Premises Registration, is in
direct conflict with our way of life and our ability to maintain responsible,
safe farming methods. The people of
As the industrial food system continues to generate
incidents like the recent recall of 143 million pounds of ground beef, more and
more people will turn to the food we produce, food made by their neighbors,
food they trust. We will continue to meet this growing demand.
You, as an administrator of the USDA, have already
encountered this movement in the form of farmers who will not comply with
behavior not fit for a free people.
We are the face of this movement. We are the National
Independent Consumers and Farmers Association and all state affiliates. All
efforts to push NAIS will only strengthen our movement.
We will not participate in a program designed by and
for international agencies and globalist industrial agriculture that persecutes
independent traditional farms. We will not comply with the NAIS.
Yours respectfully,
Deborah Stockton, Executive
Director
National Independent Consumers and Farmers
Association,
on behalf of all people,
farmers and consumers, who oppose the NAIS and support unrestricted domestic
trade.
REMOVE NAIS FROM THE FARM BILL
ACTION: CALL AND FAX YOUR SENATORS NOW!
Tell them to contact the Ag Committee on your
behalf!
The Senate Agriculture
Committee has inserted a “FOIA Exemption” for the National Animal
Identification (NAIS) database to the Farm Bill that will pave the way for
mandatory NAIS. The ONLY reason for a FOIA exemption for NAIS is if the
information is owned by the federal government. If NAIS were a voluntary,
industry run system, the data would be in private hands and FOIA would be
irrelevant. By creating the FOIA exemption, the Senate Ag Committee makes
undeniably clear their intent for NAIS to be a massive government program.
1. Senators: http://www.senate.gov/
(find your senators in upper right hand corner)
2. Ask to speak to the
Agriculture Aide about the Farm Bill. Tell the Aide to REMOVE the FOIA
EXEMPTION for NAIS from the FARM BILL (Sec. 10305, Protection of Information in the Animal
Identification System. It might have changed Section numbers.
Check http://www.NICFA.org for
updates). Tell the Aide to request that your Senator contact the Ag Committee
on your behalf.
3. SEND A FAX FOLLOW UP. Speak
your heart.
For more information and
details of how this is also an attempt to destroy transparent government, see
Mary Zanoni’s statement at “FOIA Exemption” for the NAIS database ,