The NSW Farmers’ Association has noted the concerning decision of the Victorian Government to undermine the national livestock traceability system by introducing mandatory electronic identification tags (RFIDs) for sheep and goats.
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NSW Farmers president, Derek Schoen, said the Association stands with sheep and goat producers in firm opposition to the mandatory use of RFIDs.
“We are disappointed that Victoria has committed to a system that will cause chaos in interstate trade and will not reduce the risk of endemic disease in sheep and goats.
“We all know the massive costs of implementation at saleyards will mean that farmers will bear the cost,” Mr Schoen said.
Store stock purchased interstate will also have to be tagged and uploaded at Victorian purchase cost.
“Our message to Victorian farmers is that we are with you on this; we do not want this cost burden pushed onto farmers who are already doing it tough.
“The Victorian Government’s decision doesn’t just affect their sheep and goat industries. Through trade across state borders, it will introduce havoc to the workable mob-based system in NSW.”
“We will seek assurances from the Victorian government that there will be no market access implications for sheep and goats going from NSW into Victoria.”
The current national mob-based system is tailored to the behaviour and volume of sheep and goats. NSW has shown that it is more than possible to improve this mob-based National Livestock Identification System, which is considered to be at the forefront of international livestock traceability systems.
“We are gravely concerned about the potential for mandatory RFIDs to damage the integrity of this system,” Mr Schoen said.
Sheep and goat producers in NSW have committed to improving traceability through increasing the uptake and accuracy of the National Vendor Declaration (NVD). Mr Schoen said that the Victorian Government is asking the right questions, but they have come up with the wrong answer.
“If Victoria is serious about better traceability, they need to start with the NVD. If we don’t have robust data on these documents, all the gadgets in the world won’t help: it will simply remain garbage in, garbage out.”
Mr Schoen said that an RFID tag is not just a tag; it requires changes across the whole supply chain. Farmers will ultimately also bear the costs of the scanning equipment and the architecture of the system itself.
“We hope that if Victorian farmers are forced to tag every single sheep and goat in the state, the state government is going to pick up the entire tab.”
