Benefits of a livestock identification system far outweigh costs that farmers will incur adopting it, says project head Ian Corney. He says farmers should not get bogged down in cost-benefit analyses over different sets of figures. Corney, chairman of National AnimalIdentification and Tracing project (NAIT), says if an outbreak of a disease put NZ out of the international market, the total cost of NAIT would "˜disappear'. He was responding to ongoing criticism by Fed Farmers of figures used by NAIT in its cost-benefit analysis. Corney says he is astounded by the federation's criticism as it has served on NAIT's governance committee for four years and has been party to every decision. He says farmers should see the "˜bigger picture' and consider the impact of losing the $750 million Asian market for not having a recognised animal identification system.
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