Jolley: Five Minutes With Bruce Knight, Undersecretary, USDA

Bruce Knight was confirmed by the Senate on August 6, 2006 as Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs.  Knight heads up the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the Agricultural Marketing Service and the Grain Inspection, Packers, and Stockyards Administration.  From 2002 to 2006, he served as Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the lead agency for conservation on private working agricultural lands. 

And he’s one of the guys in the NAIS hot seat.

A third-generation rancher and farmer and lifelong conservationist, he grew up on a small farm near the Gann Valley, S.D., where he owns a diversified grain and cattle operation using no-till and rest rotation grazing systems. 

Leaving the ranch years ago, he served on the staff of Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-KS), focusing on development of the conservation title of the 1996 farm bill.  He also was a legislative assistant to Rep. Fred Grandy (R-IA) and Sen. James Abdnor (R-S.D.) He also served as vice president for public policy for the National Corn Growers Association and worked for the National Association of Wheat Growers.

Well, that’s his background.  He’s earned his stripes as someone who knows what he’s doing on the federal level.  The real purpose of this interview, though, is to dig into NAIS and what it might mean to the animal agriculture industry.  He’s probably got the best overview so let’s spend five minutes with him to get the beltway point-of-view.  In coming weeks, I’ll be talking with others with direct ‘hands-on-in-the-field’ experience.

Q. Let’s cut through the rhetoric and define NAIS.  It’s been painted as both the best and worst thing ever to hit agriculture. In the most basic of terms, what is it and what is it supposed to accomplish?

A. NAIS is a modern, streamlined information system that helps producers and animal health officials respond quickly and effectively to animal disease events in the United States.  The NAIS program, voluntary at the Federal level, is a Federal-State-industry partnership that helps protect U.S. livestock and poultry from disease spread, maintain consumer confidence in our food supply, and retain access to foreign and domestic markets. 

We have had animal identification programs in place in America for years as a way to help eradicate diseases like brucellosis and bovine tuberculosis. Many producers have identified their animals for other reasons, including management and genetic improvement, marketing, proof of ownership, etc.  However, current animal identification efforts typically only address individual objectives, such a specific disease eradication programs, interstate commerce, breed registries and age and source verification. 

It is interesting to think that an animal may be identified multiple times but not be fully traceable because separate programs use different herd and flock identification practices.  The result is records or data about an animal that cannot be linked collectively to the correct animal across multiple databases maintained by the states, industry and USDA.

This inefficiency of information systems and lack of official identification, directly impacts our ability to respond quickly and effectively to animal disease events.  To underscore this point, USDA’s last four bovine tuberculosis investigations took animal health officials an average of 125 days to complete. Much of the delay can be attributed to poor, incomplete or non-existing animal identification. We need something better.

NAIS is that something better.  While it’s not new, it is a modern way to complement existing identification programs and allow animal health officials to rapidly investigate a disease outbreak, across state lines if necessary and trace a suspect animal to its source.  Our ultimate goal is a 48-hour traceback capability.  Comprehensive, state-of-the-art solutions are needed to get us there, and NAIS can help. Rapid response minimizes the potential spread of a contagious disease.

We are about to release as part of our animal disease control program efforts, “A Business Plan to Advance Animal Disease Traceability.”  An overview and synopsis of the report, which outlines strategies designed to support progress toward our goal, is available on our website: www.usda.gov/nais. 

Q. Walk me through the process - Premises registration, animal identification. There seems to be a lot involved in developing a workable system. 

A. Establishing a national system of this type is never easy, and with the help of our State and industry partners we’re still making refinements, but for a producer, participation is simple.  An easy to complete NAIS premises registration form is available from individual state websites which can be accessed through our USDA site: www.usda.gov/nais. Premises registration is free and I’d encourage every producer to join the more than 423,000 premises owners nationwide who have already registered.

After you register your premises, you may choose to participate in the animal identification component of NAIS.  Animals of the same species that move through the production chain as a group can be identified with a group lot identification number (GIN) rather than by individual numbers.  The GIN is determined by using the premises registration number you receive, and the date the group was assembled. 

Animals that move through commerce individually can be identified using a USDA-recognized animal identification number (AIN) tag or device.  Eight approved identification devices are being produced by five manufacturers. A list of authorized AIN devices is available on the NAIS web site.  Identification devices can be applied at the convenience of the producer before the animal leaves their birth premises.

The third step, if one wishes to participate in animal tracing, is to report when animals leave the ranch or farm for another premises or when animals are moved into your operation.  Private industry and States will operate the animal data bases and the information can only be accessed through a USDA operated “portal” by animal health officials when responding to an animal disease event.  The list of animal tracking data base providers is also provided on the NAIS website.

Q. NAIS seems to be a work in progress sometimes.  How has it changed from its original concept to today’s program?  And why were those changes made?

A. As I said, NAIS is being refined with input from our State and industry partners.  The biggest change was the decision to keep NAIS voluntary at the Federal level.  NAIS doesn’t need to be mandatory to be effective. We believe the goals of the system can be achieved with a voluntary program, one that is supported by those who choose to participate. 

Participation is a choice, but it is the right choice.  Producers who choose to participate will find many positive benefits.  They will be better informed in order to protect their premises and their livelihood. They will be positioned to protect their access to markets, to expand marketing opportunities. Any individual involved in the care and management of livestock will benefit from participation in the program.  While NAIS will not prevent a disease occurrence, it can reduce or prevent the spread of the disease.

In response to public and producer comments we have also made other changes in NAIS since its inception, e.g. privatization of animal movement records.

The objective, however, remains unchanged – that being to enhance our ability to respond to disease events in a more timely way.  As we continue to learn and as technology advances, the system will continue to evolve through input from the industry.

Q. We’ve all heard the warnings about the dangers of NAIS citing privacy issues and nuisance problems like tagging non-commercial animals such as horses intended for recreational use only.  Would you talk about the fears that some people are expressing?

A. I would encourage anyone with concerns to get the facts from our website: www.usda.gov/nais.  USDA is required by law to protect individuals’ private information.  Regardless of the level of participation animal owners choose, the voluntary NAIS is limited in terms of the type of information maintained by the Federal Government. 

USDA holds only minimal premises and AIN device information.  Data such as movement records is kept in private and State databases and will only be requested in the event of an animal disease event. NAIS is not intended to trace every animal movement.  Animals that move in commerce and are commingled with animals from other premises are important to trace, while movements within a premises or for local events are not.  Likewise, animals raised for one’s own personal consumption are not the focal point of the soon to be released traceability plan. 

Q. The real bottom line, of course, is the bottom line.  Animal agriculture is a for-profit business, after all.  Can NAIS help a rancher improve his profitability?

A. Our animal agriculture production system is the safest in the world, but NAIS adds an additional layer of protection and assures our partners in the event of an disease outbreak.  Disease outbreaks are costly.  Since 2002, detections of bovine tuberculosis in six states have required the destruction of more than 25,000 cattle. USDA has spent about $90 million on owner indemnification and control activities.  The current response to TB in a few infected herds in New Mexico will add to that total.  The 2003 BSE discovery cost $5 million for the initial response and the U.S. lost 80% of its foreign beef trade. 

Bottom line, when it comes to an animal disease event, the time it takes to control or eradicate the disease is the key factor that determines the extent of economic loss or social harm. 

A rapid, coordinated response helps protect U.S. producers. In essence, time is money – maintaining domestic and international markets through effective disease control programs affect every producer’s business.

While USDA’s focus of NAIS is entirely animal disease control efforts, we encourage industry to take advantage of the system to enhance their management and marketing opportunities that contribute directly to their bottom-line.

Q. Recently, APHIS announced a partnership with the Angus Association.  Are there any other partnerships and what is the long term objective?

A. We value our relationship with all of our industry cooperative partners.  Their goal is to provide education about NAIS and encourage the registration of premises.  In addition to the American Angus Association we have forged partnerships with IDairy, The U.S. Animal Identification Organization (USAIO), The National Pork Board, IMI Global, American Sheep Industry; along with the National FFA Organization.  These organizations and others to be announced as cooperative agreement partners in the future, see the need for NAIS. 

Q. Thousands of people read Cattlenetwork.com.  What would you like to say to them? 

A. NAIS is absolutely necessary to rapidly, successfully and reliably trace and eradicate animal disease. The system equips animal health authorities to know which animals are involved in a disease outbreak, where they are, where they’ve been and when they were there.  This system is critical to the health and economic well-being of commercial livestock and poultry industries in the U.S. 

I would encourage anyone who is interested in finding out more about the program or registering their premises to contact one of our State or Industry partners or simply go to our website at www.usda.gov/nais.