More and more regulation

The province of Manitoba has announced this it is committing $400,000 for the establishment of a new Agricultural Premises Identification program. This is part of the national livestock traceability system. An agricultural premise is defined as a parcel of land on any part of which animals, plants or food are grown, kept, assembled or disposed of.  The idea of the premises database is to use it as a tool for food safety issues and emergencies and also to support trade and market access. Manitoba is starting with the collection of information on livestock and poultry production locations. All provinces are responsible for developing a premises identification database. I understand what these programs are trying to accomplish, but pretty soon producers will need to have a better handle on the location of their cows than their kids. You’d hope that domestic and international consumers would appreciate the effort within initiatives such as premise ID. Sadly, I’ll bet most consumers don’t know, don’t understand and don’t care. I’m Kevin Hursh.