If you received one of these letters from MDAR we urge you to "opt out" of registration of your farm in NAIS by contacting:

Joao Tavares
MA DAR
251 Causeway St., Suite 500
Boston, MA 02114-2151

Email: Joao.Tavares@...

Mr. Tavares has also offered to accept opt-outs by phone at 617-626-1719, but we recommend using the phone only as a follow-up and confirmation of written correspondence.

You may want to consider using this sample letter to indicate that you are opting out of NAIS:

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Dear Mr. Tavares:

I received a letter from the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) dated October 30, stating that my property will be registered in the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) unless I contact you. This letter is my notice to MDAR that I want no part of NAIS, and specifically do not want my premises registered in the National Premises Information Repository, or any other similar state or federal database. I make this choice for these reasons:

- NAIS was designed to reassure foreign markets that US meat animal production can be traced in the event of a disease outbreak. This program is not appropriate for small scale producers that raise food for themselves or for local markets, because the costs to small farmers of complying could put them out of business and restrict the already small supply of animal products raised outdoors on pasture.

- Diseases of animal origin are the result of the unprecedented rise of large-scale feedlot and factory farming operations in the last half century, and not of small farms where adequate space, soil, sunlight, fresh air and pasture serve as natural sanitizing services. State and federal funds would do more to protect public health if spent making and enforcing reasonable regulations to restrict the size and anti-environmental practices of confinement animal facilities.

Lastly, the letter I received said "Participation [in NAIS] is voluntary," but it also put the onus on me to respond to MDAR. The word "voluntary" in this situation means that people who want to be part of NAIS would contact you. If it is MDAR's intention to keep NAIS a voluntary program, I ask that the department desist from sending out letters that require farmers to respond, and instead rely only on people specifically volunteering their information for NAIS.

Sincerely,
Name
Address (you need to provide this so MDAR knows which premises' owner is opting out)
City, MA ZIP CODE

Phone number

You can easily forward this message by using the button at the very bottom of this message that says "Forward email". Don't delay, because livestock premises owners only have until December 14 to get out of the program.

Alternatively, you can forward this link to our website, which contains the same information (this new website is under construction):

http://www.nofamass.org/programs/stopnais/index.php

We also need to get our own state government to opt out from NAIS by passing house bill number 757. We need to let our representatives know that MDAR has begun resuming premises registration and that we think this is a step in the wrong direction for agriculture in Massachusetts.

The Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture, which conducted a hearing in July where H757 was heard, has begun executive sessions and could vote the bill out of committee at any time. The committee's action depends partly on how much of a priority their constituents make of it.

Please consider taking these actions:

1. Forward your letter to MDAR to your representative so they know what is going on. Simply add these words to the text of the letter:

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Dear Representative/Senator,

I am forwarding you my correspondence with Joao Tavares at the Massachusetts Department of Agriculture regarding the Department's role in implementing the animal premises registration component of the National Animal Identification System -- a program I do not support.

I am also asking that you support H757. This bill, sponsored by Representative Anne Gobi, would withdraw Massachusetts' agreement with USDA to implement NAIS, stop uploads of premises registrations such as MDAR is currently pursuing, and remove registrations from NAIS databases that lack a premises' owners specific authorization.

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2. Follow up with a phone call reiterating these points request they speak with the members of the Joint Committee on the Environment, Natural Resources and the Environment about the importance of passing H757.

Get contact information here:
http://www.mass.gov/legis/citytown.htm

1. Distribute the NOFA/Mass brochure to pass out at fairs, and other events. Send me an e-mail at <ben.grosscup@...> to get copies.

2. If you are in Massachusetts, organize a local meeting to raise public awareness and build our constituency. We are reaching out to new communities and groups that want to protect our food so that we will be able to speak in a louder voice to our representatives. Contact me at the above e-mail or at (413) 658-5374 to schedule an educational meeting.