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Another rebellion is brewing across the hinterland. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has targeted ranchers, farmers, horse owners, homesteaders, organic gardeners, and chicken-owning grandmas for participation in a new National Animal Identification System. The targets are unhappy, and are organizing to see that the USDA cannot force participation in this new high-tech USDA program.

Senator Jim Talent, and Representative Jo Ann Emerson, both from Missouri, have introduced legislation in both chambers that will prohibit the USDA from imposing a "mandatory" animal identification program on livestock owners. The bills will also prohibit the use of federal funds to support any state program that mandates participation in a state program.

The USDA, and the promoters of the NAIS, are furious. The American Farm Bureau Federation, in particular, has been a strong supporter of the program. But many individual Farm Bureau members, and some county and state organizations, oppose a mandatory program, and are supporting the Talent-Emerson bills. There has been more than casual talk about widespread defections from the Farm Bureau because of the national association's support for the program.

The National Cattle and Beef Association is also concerned about losing members because of the association's outspoken support for NAIS. NCBA's response to the introduction of the Talent-Emerson bills was considerably less caustic than was the American Farm Bureau Federation's. NCBA's recent increase in membership fees, and the emergence of the competitive R-CALF organization, was already causing concern about member loyalty for the NCBA leadership. According to a Congressional staffer (who must remain anonymous in order to keep his job), the NCBA folks are softening their position on NAIS.

The grassroots community is ramping up its opposition to the NAIS, and generating support for the Talent-Emerson bills.

Karin Bergener, an Ohio Attorney, who is also a founding member of the Liberty Ark Coalition's steering committee, had this to say about the Talent-Emerson bills: "This is a real step forward, The grassroots community has been working hard to get legislators to pay attention to this intrusive program USDA has been trying to implement."

The Coalition, not yet six months old, has attracted 80 organization members, and more than 1200 individual members in 50 states. Half of the states have volunteer coordinators who have organized "Town Hall" meetings and candidate forums during the summer. An online presentation tells the NAIS story, and other materials supplied by the coalition have helped to fan the rebellion that is spreading across the countryside.

In an effort to quiet the growing opposition, the USDA released a publication last April stressing that the NAIS is "voluntary." But when pressed by reporters, Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Mike Johanns, said the USDA had the authority to make the program mandatory if there was less than 100% voluntary participation.

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