By Bruce Vielmetti
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 3/9/10
http://www.jsonline.com/newswatch/87184992.html
An Amish farmer in Clark County has won his fight against the state's livestock registration law, which he argued violates his religious beliefs. The case against Emanuel Miller Jr. of Loyal was the first in the state against an Amish farmer over refusal to obey the 2005 mandatory livestock registration law, aimed at controlling outbreaks of disease. It requires owners of premises where livestock is kept to register the location, number and type of livestock with the state. Paul McGraw, the assistant state veterinarian, said he expects the state to appeal the Miller decision. To read the full story, click here
To read the nine page decision by Judge Counsell, click here
Following is an excerpt of his public comment at a recent USDA listening session on the National Animal Identification System held in KY - Wendell Berry will be appearing at the Wisconsin Book Festival in Madison, WI on Oct. 3rd - stay tuned for details...
The need to trace animals was made by the confined animal industry -- which are, essentially, disease breeding operations. The health issue was invented right there. The remedy is to put animals back on pasture, where they belong. The USDA is scapegoating the small producers to distract attention from the real cause of the trouble. Presumably these animal factories are, in a too familiar phrase, "too big to fail".
This is the first agricultural meeting I've ever been to in my life that was attended by the police. I asked one of them why he was there and he said: "Rural Kentucky". So thank you for your vote of confidence in the people you are supposed to be representing. (applause) I think the rural people of Kentucky are as civilized as anybody else.
But the police are here prematurely. If you impose this program on the small farmers, who are already overburdened, you're going to have to send the police for me. I'm 75 years old. I've about completed my responsibilities to my family. I'll lose very little in going to jail in opposition to your program -- and I'll have to do it. Because I will be, in every way that I can conceive of, a non-cooperator.
I understand the principles of civil disobedience, from Henry Thoreau to Martin Luther King. And I'm willing to go to jail to defend the young people who, I hope, will still have a possibility of becoming farmers on a small scale in this supposedly free country. Thank you very much.
May 21, 2009
By: Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund
More consumers are stepping up to complain about the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) as the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) continues its national listening tour. During today's stop in Birmingham, Alabama, the USDA's listening tour on animal identification heard from 30 people, 28 of whom spoke out against NAIS with only two speaking in favor of it. It was much the same in Austin, Texas yesterday where the USDA tour heard from some 64 people, 58 of whom spoke against any NAIS or advocated for a voluntary, market-driven program only. The results were similar during the listening tour in Pasco, Washington, on Monday where 26 out of 31 speakers voiced opposition to the program. Read more click here
By: Tim Jones Chicago Tribune (September 20, 2008)
BLANCHARD, Mich. - It's not like Glen Mast to be confrontational or to draw attention to himself. He is Old Order Amish and is happy to tend his 35-acre farm, build furniture for his children and repair horse-drawn buggies for the Amish in his rural central Michigan community. "I just want to be left alone," Mast says. So it is extraordinary that Mast is a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit filed this month seeking to stop the government from tagging the ears of cattle with computer chips, chips that Mast and others say violate their religious freedom and may represent the biblical "mark of the beast," condemning those who comply to eternal damnation. read more
by Jeff Pausma, grass-based dairy farmer, Fox Lake, WI
A version of this article appeared in the Aug. 1st, 2008 issue of the WI State Farmer
Many parents were appalled when we saw on our television screens a video of workers abusing a downer cow with electric shocks because the cow was too sick to stand up. We were even more horrified to learn that meat from that cow had gone into lunches served by the federal School Lunch Program. The scandal at the Hallmark/Westland plant in Chino, Calif., has sparked interest in the current trend of securing local meat from sources that are grass-fed, organic and come from animals raised humanely. Our kids deserve the safest meat in their food. Sadly, Congress is now considering squashing such efforts to get local foods into the School Lunch Program. read more
Falls Church, Virginia, (July 14, 2008) -- Attorneys for the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund today filed suit in the U.S. District Court – District of Columbia to stop the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA) from implementing the National Animal Identification System (NAIS), a plan to electronically track every livestock animal in the country. The MDA has implemented the first two stages of NAIS – property registration and animal identification – for all cattle and farmers across the state as part of a mandatory bovine tuberculosis disease control program required by a grant from the USDA. The suit asks the court to issue an injunction to stop the implementation of NAIS at either the state or federal levels by any state or federal agency. If successful, the suit would halt the program nationwide. read more
Letter to the Editor printed in WI State Farmer 3/21/2008
By: John Peck, executive director, Family Farm Defenders
I was extremely disturbed by the recent article extolling the virtues of RFID chips in the WI State Farmer (3/14/08), especially when the sponsoring entities (WLIC, DATCP, UW) all have financial interests in creating demand for this expensive technology. The global RFID market is growing by an estimated 30% annually and will top $7 billion in 2008, so one can only imagine the bonanza once Wisconsin goes beyond premises ID to mandate animal ID. read more
As many of you may know, Wisconsin has become a national battleground state on NAIS. DATCP and its partner WLIC (which actually administers the program as a private subcontractor) have received millions in taxpayer funding to bring this program into existence, and now many bureaucratic jobs and corporate contracts depend upon its implementation. When over 10% of WI dairy farmers refused to voluntarily register their premises, the state was unable to make good on their threat to pull milk licenses since the state's economy could not afford to criminalize so many productive farmers overnight.
Nonetheless, DATCP is now denying milk licenses to new dairy farmers, including many Amish who strongly oppose NAIS for religious reasons, even though grass-based Amish dairy operations are one of the fastest growing segments of the entire industry. The proposed rule change would also allow the state to register farmers against their will and without their knowledge. Worse yet, we know that DATCP/WLIC intend to move towards mandatory RFID chipping, phase two of the federal NAIS program, despite recent scientific studies revealing that RFID chips cause cancer, and thus pose a health threat to both livestock and people. A farmer in MI recently had sheriff deputies under state orders enter his land to place RFID chips in his cattle against his will. And then there is the disturbing story of the Faillace family in VT, documented in the book "Mad Sheep," where a USDA led SWAT team invaded their farm to seize and destroy all of their animals wrongly suspected of harboring some prion type disease.
Family Farm Defenders has been an outspoken critic of NAIS for years now, and recently helped form an organization called Free Wisconsin Pastures with the purpose of filing a lawsuit against DATCP/WLIC/USDA if necessary to stop this absurd program from destroying the future of farming in our state.
Of course, we would rather NOT have to take this issue to court, which is why it is so paramount that family farmers and others concerned about the future of agriculture in WI exercise their democratic freedom to express their opinion and let our elected officials and DATCP bureaucrats know that NAIS is not acceptable in any form.
Please pass this information along to others and thank you for your support.
For a recent action alert on why people should oppose WI Premises Registration law click here...
For a set of NAIS talking points and a sample letter to your state elected official, click here...
For suggestions on what to do if your farm comes under government harrassment for failure to comply with various NAIS measures click here
For a general factsheet on how the USDA's National Animal Identification System and Wisconsin's Premises Registration threaten farmers, consumers, food sovereignty, and local control, click here
By: Tim Hundt
Vernon County Broadcaster 5/2/07
The state of Wisconsin has stopped short, so far, of putting farmers who won’t accept a premise ID numbers, out of business. The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) issued a press release Friday saying it would still allow milk transporters and creameries to accept milk from farms that did not have a premise ID. Wisconsin's new farm premise ID law went into effect Tuesday. One De Soto area farmer went so far as to say he may sue the state if it doesn’t back off on its mandatory premise ID program. "I have informed them that if my milk license is not renewed I will bring legal action," said Vernon County producer Mark Brothun. read more?
For an excellent overview of NAIS and why so many farmers and consumers oppose this program, read Jack Kittredge's article in the June/July 2007 issue of Mother Earth News: http://www.motherearthnews.com/print-article.aspx?id=114666
Shamane Mills Wisconsin Public Radio, 04/26/07
Some Wisconsin farmers want an exemption to what's called "premise identification." Amish compare it to numbering animals, which they consider a "mark of the beast." Other opponents believe it's an unnecessary government intrusion and are threatening a lawsuit. Officials and farmers squared of... http://www.wpr.org/news/archives/0704.cfm
by: Nathan Leaf Wisconsin State Journal 4/25/07
Citing the need for religious sensitivity and freedom from government, some Wisconsin farmers are pushing back against a state law requiring farmers to register their animal herds. read more
By Tim Hundt La Crosse Tribune 4/19/07
CASHTON, Wis. — About 200 Amish dairy producers recently met with state officials to again protest a state-mandated livestock identification system they claim will force them to choose between their religion and their livelihood. The “premise ID” law, passed three years ago but set to take full effect May 1, requires all livestock farms to register with the state and receive a farm ID number. The Amish, citing specific Biblical passages, say they are prohibited from buying and selling animals that are numbered, and consider it the “mark of the beast.” Meeting Thursday in an auction barn on Irish Ridge near Cashton, Wis., a number of the Amish producers said they may stop selling milk and animals if they cannot operate without the number. read more