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When President Lincoln created the United States Dept. of Agriculture in the 1800's, he referred to it as "the Department of the People," because more than 90% of Americans were involved in agriculture, yet they had little or no voice in government. The farmers and ranchers were too busy on the land to go to Washington and lobby. The USDA was a helpful authority, aiding in the creation of Land Grant colleges, where young people could learn scientific advances in agricultural practices. Following the Dust Bowl it was the Soil Conservation Service that helped rebuild our topsoil and stabilize it for the future. As time went on, and urban populations grew, it was the USDA that created policies to keep food safe during transport and at sales.

But now, less than 10% of Americans are involved in agriculture, and there are less than ten legislators in Washington D.C. with honest farming experience. Agriculture has left the farm and moved into laboratory and with the granting of the first patent for life, in 1980, agri-business has taken off. Monsanto controls patents on 7 rice genes, it has more than 350,000+ rice gene sequences protected. They control the vast majority of our nation's seed for fields and gardens, and have successfully sued farmers for "patent violation," because an adjoining field was cross-pollenated with a patented corn type, even though the genetically modified corn was supposed to be sterile.

The influence of technology on the USDA is blatantly illustrated by the pending National Animal Identification System, NAIS. Created the NIAA (National Institute for Animal Agriculture,) NAIS was invented and presented to the USDA in its totality, without a single non-industrial voice. Microsoft, Digital Angels, Cargill, Tyson and other huge companies saw the value of individually tagging every farm animal in the nation, and keeping that information in their control. The amount of money spent by the small farmer in order to comply with NAIS would keep electronic identification companies, database companies and applicator manufacturers in money for a long time. That same expense would minimize the competition for the industrial food producers, as they wrote themselves an exemption, based upon the scale of operation and the techniques they use in handling the animals. This monstrosity of a program was presented to the USDA under the guise of controlling animal disease, and now as a food safety implement, when in reality, it does neither. NAIS will chase an infection,

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