JOHN Howard asked some hard questions about the National Animal Identification and Tracing project (NAIT) in last week’s Straight Furrow.
I welcome robust debate about NAIT, given the project’s significance to farmers and industry. And I can tell you there’s been a lot of vigorous debate around the NAIT governance group table during the last four years.
John, however, raised a number of issues that need clarification.
Firstly, NAIT will not replicate the MINDA system. MINDA was developed by the Livestock Improvement Corporation primarily as a herd improvement tool and to aid decision-making in the dairy industry.
The main purposes of NAIT will be to safeguard market access for meat and dairy products and to improve biosecurity responses for deer and all cattle, not just dairy. So we’re talking different roles as well as wider coverage. In other words, MINDA isn’t broke. It does what it is designed to do, which is something different from that required by NAIT.
The plan is that NAIT and systems like MINDA will be able to talk to each other and share relevant information. This means dairy farmers should be able to enter NAIT data directly into MINDA without having to go near the NAIT system.
Under the current proposal, farmers will have three choices about how they pass on livestock information to NAIT. If you don’t like the internet, you can use the 0900 number. You will also be able to use accredited third-parties to supply information to NAIT on your behalf.
John suggests that, to eliminate teething problems, the NAIT system should be in place before farmers need to start using it. This will happen. We anticipate that NAIT will be ready for voluntary use some nine months before it becomes compulsory in June 2011.
On the issue of contaminated meat products – New Zealand’s existing food verification systems ensure there are controls in place at the meat processor level. But, as it stands, we don’t have a lot of information on individual animal movements prior to slaughter to help respond to a food safety or biosecurity scare. That’s the sort of detail NAIT will provide. At the moment, the Aussies can provide this information with their NLIS system. So, in terms of traceability, they have an advantage with increasingly demanding markets like the EU.
John asks what is wrong with the existing barcode system. Well, the tracing systems we’ve got at the moment don’t provide life-time traceability of all individual cattle and deer, which is what international customers such as McDonalds are asking for.
Moreover, our current systems rely on paper records and individual memory rather than an easily accessible electronic system. In the event of a biosecurity emergency we would have to wade through the paper records, which could lead to costly delays in animal tracing. Indeed, this issue was highlighted by the food-and-mouth disease alert on Waiheke Island in 2005, where it took two weeks to identify properties with at-risk animals.
John is correct in saying there are affinities between the Animal Health Board and NAIT. However, the issue of who will run NAIT and how it will be governed has yet to be decided. I want to assure all farmers that their concerns about control and ownership of livestock information will be factored into the final governance structure and the supporting legislation.
John seems confused about NAIT requirements and the use of EID technology for farm management. To be compliant with NAIT, farmers will only need to purchase electronic tags, which won’t cost a lot more than existing tags. They won’t have to buy any other equipment. So it will be fine for John to continue to “eyeball” tag numbers rather than using electronic scanning equipment if that is what he wants to do.
Finally, I am not sure where John gets his information about truckies scanning livestock. The responsibility for supplying information to NAIT will rest with farmers, saleyards and processors under the current NAIT proposal. As it stands, truck companies may wish to offer a scanning service to farmers, but that will be an individual business decision.
• Ian Corney is NAIT Chairman
Email a friend