animalagriculture.org

Animal Identification and Information Systems Committee Report
April 7, 2004

Dr. Mark Engle, Chair, opened the meeting with announcements, the agenda, a proposed resolution and protocol for voting during the business meeting.

Premises Survey (Dr. John Wiemers)

Statistics from state surveys:

What systems are used to manage premises?  Mainly use GDB (35%) or Other systems (30%)

Number of livestock premises total of 1,656,748 premises mainly cattle (1.2M)

Number of premises with GIS info total of 133,493 with 70,000 being swine

What is the preferred method to move forward? 25% Own, 10% multi state, 25% USDA

To meet USAIP standards most would use USDA system  (35%)

Number of states compatible with USAIP fields.  18 states no compatibility, the rest mainly between 4 and 11 fields. One is compatible.

Most states need support.  Mainly field staff to verify data and data entry clerks.

What are some of the concerns?  Main one is funds, limited staff, training, confidentiality, large number of small flocks/herds (how do we communicate),  data not current, cooperation needed between states and federal programs, multiple databases, addresses without 911 addresses, range land, tribal lands, interface with existing databases, producer resistance, standardization needed, absentee owners, involve brand inspectors, prolonged absence of staff, need for user friendly databases, lengthy hiring process at state/federal level, multiple premises/owners, slow development at national level, conversion from state prem ID’s to USAIP prem ID’s.

Communication Update (Scott Stuart and Dr. Cindy Wolf)

ID Steering committee has made 195 presentations reaching over 15,000 individuals and had over 1.1M hits on the website.

Received 1450 comments to date.  USDA will assist in cataloging the comments/questions.

Seen 7 main area’s

1)      “Big brotherism”

2)      Confusion about the plan and extrapolating standards to other species.

3)      Concern with logistics and cost

4)      Concern with security and misuse of data

5)      Support for use with other programs (i.e COOL ownership, etc..)

6)      Constructive suggestions

7)      Concern about competitive disadvantages

Communication and education is key to create buy-in

There must be adequate funding to support this communication effort

Group reports

The following groups gave reports: cattle (dairy, beef), sheep, swine, and livestock markets.  Implementation plans were communicated and outstanding issues expressed.  Common issues across groups are funding, confidentiality, and slowing commerce.  Premises ID was acknowledged as the foundation of the system

Good discussion ensued

The committee moved into the business portion of the meeting.  One existing resolution was deleted, "Confidentiality of Producer Records" was amended, and a new one titled "Funding for National Identification System" was affirmed.

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