Valid “Source Identification”

By Bill Roberts

Much to do has been made about a National Animal Identification System (NAIS) for purposes of “source identification” for livestock. Proponents herald it as the coup de grass for meat safety in our nation. Opponents say the negligible benefits do not outweigh the cost. They legitimately argue that the cost will further burden the small producer and enrich the corporate giants that spread the fixed costs over a broader base for economic advantage. I fall in the classification of a dissenting opponent. My basic question is, “What health risks does all this expense prevent?” The answer is, “None!” It merely limits collateral damage when a problem occurs. In essence, it admits we have a flawed production system that will have problems and that we should add another flawed component at producer expense. It admits the flawed system will fail at times in the future as it has in the past.

Call me crazy, but why not focus on correcting the flaws in the industrial model and shift to a system that science and experience have shown to correct the flaws and has its own inherent tracking system in place? Such a system has been modeled by grass finishers at home and abroad for centuries. Unbiased researchers have been rediscovering and expanding understanding of why such a system has worked in the past and even expanded knowledge and wisdom of how it can work better in the future. Beef production from conception to cooler on the same farm or ranch is easy enough to monitor that even I can do it! Of course there are the costs involved of a paper tablet and a pencil and some ear tags. But then, I am sure some bureaucrat will think of a cost share program that will help those that $ 100 will give the corporations an unfair advantage. Add to the cost savings the benefits of such a system to the land, air, water, flora, fauna and pedestrians and the merits far outweigh the logic behind another system.

The reality is, “A valid source identification system does not rely on an electronic tag that merely tracks a problem once it occurs – instead, it looks at the motivation and management emanating from the heart of the producer that avoids a problem before it starts. A growing segment of the consumer base in America already “gets it.” They are demanding a relationship with their food and the producers thereof. They will issue trust when their producers have proven “trust-worthy.”
It is really fairly easy to “identify” these producers. I spent a few bucks for a registration fee and a plane fare to go to Albany, New York to the North American Devon Association annual meeting a week ago. I witnessed 153 producers and other folks connected in some way to the grass fed movement who braved torrential rains to learn ways to improve their capacity to produce quality food and benefit the environment. While they all were different as a thumbprint in their looks, they were out of one cloth in their commitment, integrity, love of and passion for their chosen path in life. It is said, “Out of the mouth proceeds the issues of the heart.” The core of these folks is parallel, unified and audible. When they speak, they identify.

Their lifestyles also “identify” them. Their selflessness to pay for continuing education that in most cases does not relate to a commensurate increase in sales revenue classifies them as “givers”, not “takers.” Their humility is evident in that they appear to universally acknowledge accountability to a Higher Power than the almighty dollar or the standard of a “self-based value system.” Their sense of accountability puts them in the category of an “endangered species.”

This “valid source identification” took a little time and expense on my part to implement. However, I know more about the quality and safety of production from these folks than any electronic tag in a steer’s ear can tell me.

The argument that will undoubtedly be hurled my way is, “How could this system ever be effectively employed in mass production?” My reply to them is, “The physical universe is crying out that quality food does not lend itself to mass production. But, rather to multiple producers who collectively produce a mass.”

“Valid source identification” looks at a beating heart, not a plastic electronic tag. There is a better way!