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NAIT show goes on
The NAIT juggernaut rolls on, with a series of farmer meetings and presentations at A&P shows held during November
and December to sell the concept to the rural sector. The roadshow’s public meetings will be completed by Christmas,
but consultation through some on-farm field days will continue until March next year. It’s hoped these will be held on
farms where RFID technology is working, so that the impact at a farm level can be discussed.
The discussion document on NAIT received nearly 100
submissions, including separate contributions from DINZ,
Deer Industry Association and NZDFA. MAF had extended
the closing date for submissions to allow Federated Farmers
to complete their membership survey, and the analysis of
submissions plus the feedback received during the NAIT
roadshow is now scheduled to be completed by March 2009.
NAIT Project Manager Craig Purcell says feedback from the
meetings will help shape the design of NAIT. When he spoke
to Deer Industry News he had just attended farmer meetings
at Winton and Gore, where there was a strong presence from
deer farmers.
“They reinforced their concerns around ownership of the
data, and that had been reported by other sectors. They also
made the point about the high proportion of deer – about
70 percent – that go direct to slaughter when they leave the
farm. We knew about this, but it’s been helpful to hear about
the concerns first hand.”
Concerns from both cattle and deer farmers about loss of tags
have been coming through strongly at the meetings. “That’s
something we’ll look at more closely.”
Feedback received from farmers who attended the Southland
meetings was tinged with some frustration that the meetings
were challenging to run, with the floor often dominated by
Federated Farmers advocating their strong position. Media
have referred to these meetings as “testy”. The deer farmers
at the meetings said that while the responses given to
concerns raised seemed to be stock answers to justify the
current stance, and while deer farmers’ positions were well
known to NAIT, it was nonetheless useful to have that grass
roots perspective. Deer farmers however, in spite of that of
willingness to listen, felt it was going to be very difficult to
make changes they see as critical to the scheme’s design.
Craig Purcell says farmers want the transition to NAIT to
be slower, while those in the rest of the value chain want it
implemented quickly. The dairy sector is “very comfortable”
with the NAIT concept, which won’t demand much change
except the requirement to tag young calves going to rearers.
A number of beef farmers had highlighted the paradox of
having NAIT-tagged cattle running with un-tagged sheep
on the same property. “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” Craig
comments. “Our brief is to make sure it’s relatively simple to
clip on another species later on.”
He says the one-on-one conversations held around the
country have been very fruitful. “We talked to more than 100
people at the Canterbury show with discussions ranging from
one minute to well over an hour.”
MAF’s Ian Govey concurs. He says the face-to-face meetings
are yielding excellent feedback, with many practical issues
being teased out more than they may have been in the
written submissions. The 2011 implementation date still
stands, but will ultimately depend on a number of factors,
including the enabling legislation, he says.
Federated Farmers wasted no time attacking the NAIT
proposal through the media, and the manner the scheme is
being introduced based around their interpretation of a draft
cost benefit analysis and views related to the biosecurity
argument if all species are not included.
The submissions of NZDFA and DINZ are broadly in line
with each other, and express similar reservations. Differences
centre around the benefits of the NAIT scheme. NZDFA
says the scheme will have no benefit until all livestock
including pigs and sheep are brought on board to satisfy the
biosecurity aspects. DINZ takes a pragmatic view that there
will be a competitive marketing advantage to be had from
moving to a NAIT programme from the current AHB system,
regardless of whether all livestock classes are on board.
Key points in the DINZ submission included:
• support in principle for traceability and a lifetime
individual animal passport based on a unique animal
identity
• opposition to the mandatory inclusion of deer in NAIT
in 2011 unless appropriate technology is available
• concerns about potential costs and proposed governance
structure for the system
• support for the Animal Health Board (AHB) model as a
governance structure utilising the incorporated society
governance model
• commitment to further investigating UHF and unique
global ID system technology (which may also be more
suitable for sheep) as a more appropriate pathway for
NAIT implementation
• support for investigating re-use of RFID tags to help
lower costs
• concern about fitting Fallow deer and animals on game
estates into the system.
Key points in the NZDFA submission included:
• opposition to mandatory introduction until all relevant
species are included in the scheme.
• concern that 70 percent of deer make only one trip –
direct to slaughter from the farm where they were born
– and so present a very low biosecurity risk
• support for using the AHB’s database and governance
structure as a basis for NAIT
• delaying mandatory inclusion of deer until UHF
technology is properly evaluated and commercially
available if proven
• support for a 50:50 split between the Crown and
industry for operating costs, rather than the 35:65 split
proposed
• commitment to use Focus Farms to evaluate use of both
LF and UHF tags as a precursor to eventual acceptance
of the appropriate technology by farmers
• belief that there is no support from deer farmers for
either the introductory or mandatory phases of NAIT as
proposed
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