Monday, March 30, 2009

Vilsack open to mandatory livestock traceback

The United States may need to consider mandatory farmer participation in a livestock traceback system, but insight must first be gathered from opponents of the idea, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on Friday. "There is very serious dissatisfaction with the current system" among lawmakers who are convinced the voluntary process is not working as well as it should be, Vilsack said in an interview with Reuters. "What I'm hoping to do is get a system, whether it's voluntary or mandatory ... that works," he said. "It may very well be that you need a mandatory system, but in order for it to work you have to have people understand why you are doing it and understand that they have the opportunity to have their concerns voiced and listened to." Ultimately, he said whatever path livestock tracking takes, it must protect the country from market disruptions and homeland security threats. It also must be supported by a majority of the people who are willing to comply with the system rather than find a way around it...Reuters

It's one thing to "voice" your concerns and be "listened to", and quite another to actually have USDA act on those opinions.

Vilsack may bite his lower lip and tell you he feels your pain, but that won't cut it on this issue.

Notice they are now mentioning "homeland security" and "threats." The livestock producers are being set up - are you patriotic or not?

You better believe there is a mandatory program sitting on the shelf and the first "crisis" or "threat" that comes along will see it dusted off and implemented muy pronto.

Speaking of Homeland Security, thank you George Bush for bringing that concept to America and for supporting the creation of that godawful agency. Your legacy lives on.

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