Assault on Small Farmers—What You
Can Do
by Justin Sanders
With
new government programs comes new government money, so the Farm Bureau,
the state cattlemen’s associations, and Extension agents are all lining
up. In many states the Farm Bureau
has a vise-grip hold on state agricultural legislation. Farm Bureau,
cattlemen’s associations, and other organizations may back this idea,
but chances are their members don’t; chances are good the members have
no idea what’s going on.
How many farmers (not agribusinessmen) do
you know who would believe registering every chicken with the government
is a good idea? Talk to them. Encourage them not to sign up their premises.
“The USDA is using farmers’ supposed willingness to enter a ‘voluntary’
program as a justification for making the program mandatory,” says Zanoni.
Here’s what else you can do:
- Get informed. Go
to www.usda.gov/nais
and
click on “Draft Strategic Plan” on the right side of the page under
the “What’s New” heading, or write United States
Department of Agriculture, 1400 Independence Ave SW, Washington, DC
20250 to obtain the 24-page implementation plan. Read it for
yourself.
- Spread the word. Go to www.stopanimalid.org
and click on “Taking Action.” You’ll find flyers to print and distribute
to everyone in your community. Post flyers in public places—feed stores,
the post office, grocery stores.
- Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. Have a friend
write a response. Then you respond. Keep it up. Make this issue a
local concern.
- Set up an information table at your county fair or any local event
where they’ll let you. Have hand-outs people can take with them, and
petitions for them to sign.
- Attend local meetings. Check
with your community government and county Extension office. If your
area doesn’t yet have an action committee, organize one. For starters,
go to nonais.org and look up their state farmer contact list.
- Ask your breed association and any other livestock organization
or club you belong to not to submit their membership lists to NAIS
organizers, thus “voluntarily” registering the members’ farms.
- Write a letter to your Farm Bureau and tell them they are not representing
the farmers’ interests with NAIS. Go to www.fb.org/state/
for a state-by-state listing of Farm Bureaus, or ask your local Extension
office for your state Farm Bureau address. While you’re at it, contact
Director of Agricultural Policy Mary Kay Thatcher, American Farm Bureau,
600 Maryland Ave SW Suite 800, Washington DC 20024, phone 202-406-
3661.
- Complain to your state veterinary office. Contact information for
your state is available at your local library or Extension office.
- Contact your state senators and representatives, whom USDA
is relying on to initiate state-by-state NAIS implementation. Yet
these people are most likely
to care about your rights, your community, and your livelihood. If
you don’t know where to find their contact information, your local
librarian can help you.
- Find out who’s on your state Agriculture Committee. Call the members
of the committee and see where they stand on the NAIS. Find those
who are willing to sponsor legislation to protect farmers in your
state.
- Write Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns, 1400 Independence Ave
SW, Washington, DC 20250. To send email go to www.usda.gov/nais
and click on “Contact Us.”
- Contact your representatives in Congress. If you don’t know who
they are, you can find information at www.congress.org
or at the library. Tell them you oppose pending legislation (HR 3170,
two companion bills HR 1256 and HR 1254, and similar Senate bills)
that will destroy small-scale livestock farmers and make recreational
livestock activities a thing of the past.
- Contact the chairmen of the house and senate committees on agriculture:
Saxby Chambliss, chairman, Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition
& Forestry, SR-328A Russell Senate Office Building, Washington,
DC 20510; Bob Goodlatte, Chairman, House Committee on Agriculture,
12-1 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515.
- Prepare to voice your opposition during USDA’s public forum in
July 2006. The USDA has periodically established certain time periods
during which the public may comment. Previous forums were not widely
publicized. Don’t let this one slip by you. Show up at pubic forums
in vocal force to vigorously oppose the NAIS. Comments may also be
mailed to USDA Animal & Plant Inspection Service, NAIS Subcommittee,
1400 Independence Ave SW, Washington, DC 20250.
- Make copies of the petition
on this site. Ask every eligible voter you meet to sign it (4-H and
FFA groups wishing to sign this petition should clearly mark theirs
“Concerned Future Voters”). Send signed petitions to the attorney
whose address is at the bottom of the page. The petitions will be
categorized by zip code, and letters sent to representatives notifying
them that citizens in their districts have signed the petition against
NAIS.
- Above all, refuse to participate
in any voluntary NAIS sign-ups. Shun any incentives offered for early
compliance. Voice
your concerns and demand your right of due process and representation.
Justin Sanders of Westpoint, Tennessee, lives among terrorist chickens,
lambs, cows, proletarian pigs, Percherons, Haflingers, and a Belgian,
while raising three sons, none of whom yet has a government-approved
tag. He is working with his state’s legislators to protect Tennessee
farmers from NAIS. This article appeared in The Evener 2006 issue of
Rural
Heritage. |