Court dismisses Mich. farmer-led livestock-ID suit

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a Michigan farmer-led lawsuit seeking a halt to a national program that identifies individual livestock and poultry to track the movements of diseased animals.

U.S. District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer in Washington, D.C., wrote in a decision released Thursday that the National Animal Identification System is neither a federal law nor a federal regulation. It is instead, she wrote, an identification and tracking program developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and adopted by state agriculture departments on a voluntary basis.

The civil suit was filed by the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund. The Falls Church, Va.-based legal group represents farmers and consumers who follow the sustainable-agriculture movement promoting the production of healthy and affordable food using environmentally sound farming practices.

The organization, along with more than a dozen farmers — all but one of whom was from Michigan — sued the USDA in September.

"We're disappointed in the ruling," said Pete Kennedy, the group's president. "We're still of the belief that NAIS will drive many small farmers out of business."

Kennedy said all legal options, including an appeal, were being considered.

USDA spokesman Caleb Weaver said the agency was "pleased with the decision to dismiss the lawsuit." He said the agency just finished a series of 15 hearings on the animal identification question.

"This feedback will inform USDA's next steps on this important issue," Weaver said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture started rolling out the ID program in 2003 and says it's intended to protect the health of livestock and poultry as well as the economic well-being of those agricultural industries.

The attorneys' group has said the program does not have that effect, and it creates other problems. Some farmers oppose the expense of tagging while others, such as the Amish, have religious objections to being forced to attach electronic identification tags to livestock and having information about their animals added to a national database.

Vehicles carrying cattle and dairy cows could be stopped and inspected without warrants or probable cause, the organization has said.

"Living a pastoral life in the 21st century is clearly a struggle, and plaintiffs' complaints about forced electronic tagging and forced inclusion in a national database are understandable," Collyer wrote. "They, however, completely fail to address Michigan state law, which authorizes the director of MDA to adopt programs such as NAIS compliance for cattle, and plaintiffs' reliance on federal law is misplaced."

In March 2007, Michigan became the first state to make parts of the program mandatory in an effort to battle bovine tuberculosis, a contagious, chronic disease that has been found in the state in both livestock and wildlife. Michigan producers must attach radio frequency identification ear tags on all cattle and dairy cows.

According to the Michigan Department of Agriculture Web site, such animals must be tagged before they can leave farms when they are sold. However, the agency encourages producers to tag cattle and dairy cows born on their farms while the animals are small.

Tags ordered through the MDA cost $2 each. A $20 applicator also is required.

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