The United States Department of Agriculture announced last week that its controversial National Animal Identification System (NAIS) has gone the way of the dodo. In its place is planned a watered down version that ultimately will shift development and management of a nationwide animal identification plan into the hands of the individual states, Indian tribes, and producers. When finally implemented, the new program, according to the USDA website, will: “Only apply to animals moved in interstate commerce; Be administered by the States and Tribal Nations to provide more flexibility; Encourage the use of lower-cost technology; and Be implemented transparently through federal regulations and the full rulemaking process.” In other words, the USDA is passing the administrative buck on the animal identification issue to someone else. You can hardly blame them. 

Whether fragmenting a needed national plan makes sense and ever will prove workable are open questions. On the other hand, the old NAIS was not working very well, either. One hundred per cent participation is necessary for a tracking program like NAIS to work, and fewer than half the animal producers in the United States signed on to the voluntary program