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 National Animal Identification & Tracing
The National Animal Identification and Tracing project (NAIT) started in April 2006. Its purpose is to develop a universal livestock identification system, supported by a core registry of data that links people, property and animals.
NAIT will improve New Zealand's ability to respond to biosecurity alerts by allowing affected animals and properties to be identified quickly. The faster and more effective the response, the quicker we will be able to limit the spread of the disease and demonstrate to trading partners that all potentially infected animals have been contained - thus limiting the impact on trade. A robust national tracing system will also provide assurance to consumers and international markets that we can trace our meat products from the paddock to plate. International markets are increasingly demanding traceability of meat products. Earlier this year, the European Union banned Brazilian beef imports after Brazil's animal health and traceability systems failed to meet EU requirements. New Zealand's existing animal identification systems are inadequate. They work fine for their own purposes, such as controlling bovine Tb. But it is clear that, faced with increasing market expectations, it would be better to have a single national system for all traceability requirements.
NAIT is a joint industry/government initiative The NAIT governance group has representatives from DairyNZ, Meat and Wool New Zealand, Meat Industry Association, Federated Farmers, New Zealand Food Safety Authority, Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand, Deer Industry New Zealand and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. North Island farmer Ian Corney is the independent chairman.
Four years ago, industry approached the Government to work together to improve animal traceability in New Zealand. The NAIT governance and working groups have spent the last couple of years identifying the requirements of processors (dairy and meat), farmers, industry representative organisations and government agencies to pull together a discussion document that outlines how the new system could run. The design features, processes, and roles and responsibilities outlined in the discussion document are only a proposal at this stage. Consultation is underway to test and fine-tune the thinking. The Government has approved, in principle, its support for NAIT and the related FarmsOnline project to build a registry of rural property information. It has made funding available for both projects, subject to its approval of detailed business cases that will contain the finalised design proposals.
Cattle and deer are the first focus of NAIT, namely because they are already included in mandatory animal identification schemes under the National Bovine Tuberculosis Pest Management strategy. NAIT will allow the future inclusion of other species of animals. No decision, however, has been made about whether any other species will indeed be included or when or how this may take place. For example, recording of mob rather than individual movements may be sufficient for some animals.
NAIT will initially only record cattle and deer movements. This will limit the biosecurity benefits of NAIT should there be an outbreak of a multispecies disease, such as foot and mouth disease, which infects sheep and other species not yet included. However, the proposed FarmsOnline register of rural properties will help plug the gap. The intention is for the register to provide accurate farm location, ownership, management, and stock information for farms of all kinds within New Zealand. It will bring together and improve the information currently collected and maintained by various government and industry bodies. In addition, the NAIT system will provide the infrastructure capable of capturing improved movement and/or location information about other livestock. Other livestock will be added to the system if and when appropriate.
Industry and the Government weighed up a number of options before arriving at a consensus position on NAIT. An initial cost-benefit analysis, although only indicative, showed that NAIT would produce a return of $1.86 to $2.50 for every dollar invested. This was a very positive result, given the analysis used very conservative assumptions about the value that NAIT will add to New Zealand's meat products. For example, it did not consider how NAIT would reduce the cost of re-establishing market access following a major biosecurity scare. The NAIT governance group recognises the need for a more detailed cost benefit analysis work to justify the worth of the proposed system to industry and individual farmers. This work is underway.
The NAIT position is to go with technology that is already in use overseas, meets international guidelines and is widely available. In short, NAIT is a technology adopter, not a developer. Low-frequency RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Device) tagging is recognised internationally as a key foundation technology for comprehensive animal identification and traceability. There have been recent discussions about the relative merits of different frequencies, particularly ultra high-frequency, used in RFID ear tags for individual animal identification. NAIT is pleased to see progress with this technology, but at this point cannot endorse it until it is proven and accepted. We remain open to accepting it in the future.
Cattle and deer farmers should be able to adopt NAIT-compliant RFID tags as the secondary tags currently required for bovine Tb purposes. It not expected that farmers will need to use a third tag for their cattle and deer. As it stands, the cost to farmers of introducing the electronic tags, based on conservative estimates, will be around $2 or $3 per animal. The price, however, of RFID technology, is dropping, so the cost is likely to be less. In addition, the cost to farmers would decrease markedly if a single tag were to be adopted in the future to cover all identification requirements. Progression to a single tag is a medium-term goal of NAIT. Farmers will not be required to buy readers. But some farmers may be interested in other efficiencies offered by RFID technology, for example recording breeding information and tracking which animals have been treated. To do this, farmers may have to buy a reader costing between $1000 and $2000.
It is going to be easy for farmers to comply with NAIT. The exact requirements have yet to be finalised, but it is likely that farmers will be obliged to only record the animals on NAIT when they are initially tagged (soon after birth) and moved to another farm. A recent NAIT prototype indicated this requirement would take minimal effort. It will be up to individual farmers and industry to decide the extent they want to use the system for additional, non-regulated purposes.
The Government has assured us there will be strict controls on the use of NAIT information collected in the proposed FarmsOnline rural property register. Any particular use of the information will require agreements on data sharing with government, industry and the privacy commissioner. Other controls will be considered within proposed legislation around the use of NAIT and Farms Online information. There are no plans in place to use the data in the Government's proposed Emissions Trading Scheme. Click here to view the NAIT discussion document |
News - NAIT Prototype findings
- Public meeting dates - Traceability in Australia - NAIT On The Road
- NAIT Technology Adopter - Tagging Scenarios - Official NAIT Launch
- Last Chance to Have Your Say - Pilot Project Update - Government Backs NAIT
- Tag Registry Database Launches - See us at National Fieldays - Snapshot of NAITs Long-Term Strategy - Focused on Results
- RFID Standards Confirmed - Database Prototype Trial Underway - Deer Industry Tag Evaluation |
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