Agriculture Minister David Carter says the Government would provide funding to build and operate the new system and would draw up legislation to make it compulsory for cattle and deer farmers.

“NAIT is about future-proofing New Zealand agriculture,” says Mr Carter. “The Government is satisfied that there is a strong business case for the scheme and that its benefits far outweigh its costs.

“The livestock industries are a cornerstone of our economy. NAIT will help maintain the confidence of export markets in the safety and disease-free status of New Zealand’s livestock products. It will also boost our ability to prepare and respond to animal disease outbreaks.

“Despite concerns raised about compliance costs, the majority of farmers I have spoken to can see the necessity of having a robust and internationally credible traceability scheme.”

Mr Carter says it is important NAIT is compulsory for all cattle and deer farmers because complete records of individual animal movements are needed to ensure effective biosecurity responses.

“It is what our trading partners are increasingly demanding from us.”

Mr Carter congratulated the NAIT Governance Group on its work with farmers and industry to address concerns about costs, transition issues and the need to safeguard the privacy of information in the NAIT system.

The aim is for the scheme to be compulsory for cattle farmers from October 2011 and for deer farmers a year later.

NAIT chairman Ian Corney said farmers should expect to see the scheme up and running within two years now that industry and Government had endorsed a detailed business case

“It’s taken a while to get everything lined up, but we now have a scheme that has funding and a clear mandate from across the livestock sector and the Government.

“During the business case process, the NAIT Governance Group worked hard to address concerns about NAIT, particularly around privacy of information and cost,” he says.