Farmers and technology experts are questioning plans to use "outdated" and "expensive" low-frequency radio technology in a controversial $23.3 million scheme to tag and trace NZ cattle. Cabinet will decide the fate of the National Animal Identification and Tracing (Nait) scheme in the new year after reviewing the final business case reports Stuff. The scheme would mean all cattle and deer would be tagged with radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips by the middle of 2011. Their movements would be recorded in a database that could help track animals during outbreaks of disease and tell consumers where meat had come from. Sheep may eventually be tagged. Nait's governance group has opted to use "tried and true" but less-advanced low-frequency RFID technology to tag cattle, rather than ultra-high frequency (UHF) technology which allows tags to be read from a greater distance and multiple tags to be read at one time. It will consider alternative technologies, once they have been proven and accepted. Grant Pugh, deputy chairman of RFID Pathfinder Group "“ which has lobbied for the use of UHF technology "“ says it supports the traceability scheme, but Nait's low-frequency approach is "a little outdated". Moving to another technology at a later stage would mean processing plants and saleyards would have to invest in dual infrastructure, such as tag readers. Unlike low-frequency technology, UHF is attracting a lot of investment overseas, and Denmark and Canada are looking to use it to tag and trace livestock. "We believe with the level of investment going into it, UHF technology is likely to be more cost-effective than low-frequency, especially for fast-moving animals like deer and sheep," he says. The technology has been proven to work in other industries, including in freight and logistics, and Nait should offer incentives to New Zealand firms to develop it. Andrew Cooke, managing director of agriculture IT firm Rezare Systems, says it has done trials of UHF with deer, sheep and cattle and found the technology is "at least as good" as low-frequency.
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