Farmer, PDA Reach Settlement on Premises ID Lawsuit

Wolff Says Department Attempted to Assign NAIS Numbers to Upgrade Computers

CHRIS TORRES
Staff Writer

A Lebanon County farmer and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) reached a settlement this week in a case having to do with premises identification.

James Landis, a conservative Mennonite farmer from Jonestown, will not have to participate in the USDA’s National Animal Identification System (NAIS) after he sued PDA last week on the issue, claiming it would have violated his religious beliefs.

The lawsuit states Landis received a letter this spring from PDA that stated he was required to register his flock of ducks under the voluntary NAIS system in order for him to stay in business.

Through his attorney, Leonard G. Brown, III of the Clymer and Musser law firm in Lancaster, Pa., Landis filed a lawsuit claiming, among other things, that he would face “eternal damnation” if he participated in the program, which requires animals to be tagged using a system of numbers. Brown claims in the lawsuit that it is against his religious beliefs to participate in the program because the Bible warns against the “mark of the beast” numbering system for people who want to do business.

Earlier this week, both sides settled in Commonwealth Court, with PDA deciding that it would not require Landis to participate in the premises ID program.

Brown said over the phone Wednesday that the suit was filed under Pennsylvania’s Religious Freedom Act, which he said Landis was protected under, and on the fact that the Pennsylvania General Assembly never passed legislation giving PDA the authority to make farmers participate in the NAIS program. A few states, including Indiana and Wisconsin, require farmers to participate in the federal program.

“We’re pleased that the department has allowed Mr. Landis to continue in the influenza monitoring program without having him participate in the NAIS program,” Brown said.

Landis raises between 2,000 and 2,400 Muscovy ducks at his farm that are shipped to New York City to be sold. Under New York law, he is required to participate in an avian influenza monitoring program in order to sell his ducks in that state. For the past 20 years, Landis has voluntarily participated in a Pennsylvania program that requires constant monitoring and mandatory testing of his ducks.

Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Dennis Wolff said Thursday the whole issue stems back to his department upgrading its computer system to consolidate all herd numbers in the state.

Wolff said PDA attempted to replace what he described as an old and antiquated filing system of storing herd numbers by combining everything under the NAIS system for easier filing and assigning every producer in the old files with an NAIS number.

However after hearing several complaints from producers about the NAIS system, including Landis, Wolff said the department decided to allow producers to be under a state numbering system instead. As of Thursday, Wolff said Landis would be notified of the new rules.

Even with the settlement, Wolff said producers will probably need to be under some sort of numbering system if they want to do business in other states that have more stringent laws in place.

“We need to help the producers understand that, with some states, it would be impossible for them to do business without some sort of ID for their herd,” he said.