How will USDA’s Ear Tag Program Really Affect Farmers? With Lonesome Land’s Jim Mundorf

Listen to the North American Ag Spotlight Podcast here - https://www.northamericanag.com/north-american-ag-spotlight

In this week's North American Ag Spotlight Chrissy Wozniak & Jim Mundorf Discuss USDA's EID ear tag regulation roll out.

Jim Mundorf is the founder of Lonesome Lands, a podcast and blog dedicated to preserving the heritage and landscape of rural America. Through Lonesome Lands, he shares stories that highlight the beauty, struggles, and triumphs of rural life. He is also a strong advocate for the protection of private property rights, and opens the dialogue about the obvious war on agriculture. This discussion focusses on a topic that’s becoming increasingly critical for farmers: RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) or EID (Electronic Identification) ear tags.

While the technology itself holds promise, Jim sheds light on the challenges when mandated and controlled by government. From the costs associated with implementing these systems to concerns about data privacy and the potential for increased regulation, Jim discusses the real-world implications for farmers who are navigating these changes.

This episode is essential listening for anyone involved in agriculture, especially those interested in the technological advancements that are being set to transform livestock management. Tune in to this episode of the North American Ag Spotlight to gain a deeper understanding of the incoming regulations and their impact on the future of farming.

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Transcript

00:00:04:23 - 00:00:26:05
Chrissy Wozniak
Hi, and welcome to North American Ag Spotlight Agriculture Podcast. I'm Chrissy Wozniak. I'm excited to have a guest back again on the podcast. It's been a couple of years, but I've been following his excellent work. I needed to invite him back to talk about a really important issue. He's the founder of lonesome Lance podcast and blog dedicated to preserving heritage and landscape of rural America through lonesome lands.

00:00:26:05 - 00:00:48:24
Chrissy Wozniak
He shares stories that highlight the beauty, struggles and triumphs of rural life, and he's also a strong advocate for the protection of private property rights and opens the dialog about the obvious war on agriculture. Today, we're going to discuss the implications of RFID regulation on the cattle industry. From McClelland, Iowa, I'd like to welcome Jim and Dorf. Welcome, Jim.

00:00:49:00 - 00:00:51:16
Chrissy Wozniak
Thank you so much for coming back and talking to me.

00:00:51:18 - 00:00:53:17
Jim Mundorf
Thanks for having me.

00:00:53:19 - 00:00:59:05
Chrissy Wozniak
So let's start with your background. Can you give the listeners a little bit of your backstory?

00:00:59:07 - 00:01:25:12
Jim Mundorf
Yeah. So I grew up on a farm in southwest Iowa, outside of Griswold, Iowa, where we raised corn, soybeans. And we had, when I, when I was growing up, we had a feedlot and in a small cow calf herd, and now we just have a cow calf herd, but, yeah. So, and so then I guess after I, I went to college for journalism, and I got a degree in communications.

00:01:25:12 - 00:01:49:15
Jim Mundorf
I was a minor in journalism for a while, and then so when I got out, I started my own business, which is called the Drover House, where I sell longhorn, cattle horn stuff. As you can see, some of the stuff is a little bit behind me. so on that stuff I use for my business called the Drover House, and, but after a while I realized I could kind of start my own media company or whatever you want to call it.

00:01:49:15 - 00:02:04:08
Jim Mundorf
So I'm been writing and doing podcasts about issues in agriculture that are kind of important to me as far as the, the family farm and, and small independent, farmers and ranchers and, and kind of focusing on that in the last few years.

00:02:04:08 - 00:02:14:17
Chrissy Wozniak
So, yeah. That's great. So let's jump right in. What is RFID? tell me a and tell me about the legislation that's recently passed.

00:02:14:18 - 00:02:40:15
Jim Mundorf
Yeah. So there's one thing a lot of people, I don't know if it's confusing for people, but they'll say RFID or ID, and like the government or USDA, I would say has kind of changed it to ID and electronic ID just encompasses everything. I think that can be read by a reader. And RFID is radio frequency identification ID, it just stands for electronic identification.

00:02:40:17 - 00:03:12:21
Jim Mundorf
I think, which I don't know. I think they're all still radio frequency, but if there is a different something or other, it just encompasses everything. But yeah, the mandated electronic identification is is what we're talking about now and is is what is right now, plan to be put in place in November in the US. And those are electronic identification ear tags for cattle, that can be read by a wand and they can hold all kinds of information.

00:03:12:23 - 00:03:43:19
Jim Mundorf
and there is. Yeah. So USDA put out a rule for comment. January 2023 I think. And then this last April, they said that they are implementing a rule all animals of breeding are, sexually intact, meaning they're breeding use for breeding animals. over 18 months of age, will be required to have an electronic identification ear tag when crossing state lines.

00:03:43:21 - 00:04:09:17
Jim Mundorf
So it's kind of putting the toe in the door, I guess, of what a lot of us have feared is, coming. And what has come out recently is that the USDA, on their own website and in their own words, this is the beginning of their plan to have, electronic I.D. mandate on all animals, from birth to slaughter.

00:04:09:19 - 00:04:16:23
Chrissy Wozniak
Right. And so how does it differ from that? Your tags today, which seem to be doing a perfectly fine job. Right.

00:04:16:23 - 00:04:48:13
Jim Mundorf
And that's the one thing that, you know, even I forget to mention when you get to talking about this stuff, but we a lot of it, they'll talk about traceability. We have to do this for traceability in the US already has a strong traceability program. where and in, in those animals, I guess 18, eight months of older, they're already required to have an ear tag that can be read, but there's just a few different options, of USDA approved ear tags.

00:04:48:15 - 00:05:07:06
Jim Mundorf
what is changing with this rule is there will be one option of the kind of ear tag you have to have, and it has to be able it has to be electronic. That can be read by a reader. and so the weird thing about that a little bit is that it doesn't change. It doesn't have to carry any information.

00:05:07:06 - 00:05:26:14
Jim Mundorf
There's no mandate on. It's just the ear tag that has to be able to be read by a reader, even though you don't know. One has to have readers, no information has to be on it, you know, which is kind of a giveaway of what the plan is. You know, this obviously they're not they're obviously not stopping at this.

00:05:26:16 - 00:05:32:08
Jim Mundorf
this is just, like I said, getting a toe in the door, for the.

00:05:32:08 - 00:05:41:16
Chrissy Wozniak
Program. Right. And and that's, I think, where a lot of people are being lulled into, oh, it's really nothing. Right, right.

00:05:41:22 - 00:06:02:00
Jim Mundorf
And this kind of by the plant, like when I read it and, and started looking into it and like I had I have a podcast that with Bill Bullard, who he's, I think CEO of our calf, which is a cattlemen's organization. And they worked hard to stop this. This has been USDA has been trying to implement this for the past 20 years.

00:06:02:02 - 00:06:35:14
Jim Mundorf
and, you know, his whole thing that he talked about a lot was trade. They want to do this because it makes it easier for trade for the beef packing corporations. but there's now what I've talked about a lot is there is a push to, measure greenhouse gas emissions on all, all of agriculture. and the way, that, that I believe that the corporations plan to measure greenhouse gas emissions in livestock is through electronic identification.

00:06:35:16 - 00:07:04:01
Jim Mundorf
Your tags. and so that is why there is this new push. But I think it also is tied to trade as well. I mean, it's, you know, that that makes sense as well. And, and there is this talk of this imminent threat of foot and mouth disease, which, you know, I've talked about how they're trying to scare everyone to to put these, tags in, you know, and I'm now I'm looking into foot and mouth disease.

00:07:04:01 - 00:07:43:08
Jim Mundorf
And it is an incredibly contagious and kind of scary disease. but the goal for them with but that lead to back to trade. Like if it does come into the U.S., they can regionalize it meaning they're still be able to export meat from a region that doesn't have a foot and mouth disease. And so in order to verify the regions, they want to have this ID, which, like I said, right now, the rule that comes in doesn't do anything to do that because those tags hold no information, or they're not required to hold any information, but.

00:07:43:10 - 00:07:44:07
Chrissy Wozniak
Right.

00:07:44:09 - 00:07:46:18
Jim Mundorf
Yeah. So that's kind of the.

00:07:46:20 - 00:08:11:13
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah, that makes sense. And and as you know, I, I'm originally from Canada. And then four years ago, started this, you know, what's going on in the world and then moved from Canada to Florida because I didn't want to live in that world. I would like to preserve my freedom. So moved back here to Florida, and I've done a lot of research on ESG, which is environmental, social governance, scoring.

00:08:11:15 - 00:08:31:18
Chrissy Wozniak
And as I as I watch the agriculture industry, I see how it lines up with that. so, so how do you think? And I, and I agree with you that, that this is tied to carbon scoring for sure. So how do you think that's going to go? What's the next step in this slippery slope.

00:08:31:20 - 00:08:52:15
Jim Mundorf
Yeah. Well the the next step as far as the tags would just be to expand it. Like I said, USDA has a plan and NCBa that National Cattlemen's Beef Association before their convention this year and they are partnered with the with the USDA. And when I say that, I don't mean like they work alongside them where they work together.

00:08:52:15 - 00:09:23:20
Jim Mundorf
The USDA gave NCBa $445,000 and some odd dollars to increase the traceability program. Nothing was ever said about how that money would go to increase the traceability program. But a few days after that, NCBa president started writing op eds, you know, pushing this idea of, you know, we're under this imminent threat of foot and mouth disease, and we have to have electronic ID ear tags to save the industry.

00:09:23:22 - 00:09:33:21
Jim Mundorf
and so like that is how they're partnering with them, like they have paid NCBa to kind of indoctrinate their own members to go along with this stuff.

00:09:33:23 - 00:09:37:00
Chrissy Wozniak
what about the cost to the farmers to.

00:09:37:02 - 00:10:02:15
Jim Mundorf
Yeah. So, right. And so that's interesting because during this, you know, they came out with this policy before their convention. They had a bunch of pushback, and their goal was to vote in a policy that they would recommend to the USDA that, would, would recommend that would say that they wanted Bert to slaughter, electronic ID ear tags, but their members push back on it.

00:10:02:17 - 00:10:27:23
Jim Mundorf
And, you know, a lot of guys made videos, sale barn people a lot. There was just a lot of pushback within the entire industry, and they weren't able to get that policy passed at their convention. But within two weeks after their convention, and before this mandate was even in place, the USDA or an omnibus bill was passed through the House and Senate.

00:10:28:00 - 00:10:51:17
Jim Mundorf
and signed into law. That and part of that bill had $15 million in it to pay for, electronic ID tags if they happen to be mandated. Well, then a couple weeks after that, they were mandated. But the National Cattlemen's Beef Association talked about how they were an integral part in getting that $15 million in that bill.

00:10:51:19 - 00:11:12:18
Jim Mundorf
and they kind of bragged about how they were able to get that passed and that, that, that money would be covered. And it's kind of like everything you hear today, like like today after last night, the Democrat convention and all this stuff where we're going to give away, you know, you're going to have free health care and free college education and free all this, but nothing is free, right?

00:11:12:18 - 00:11:45:03
Jim Mundorf
Like someone is paying for this stuff. And when when cattle producers are asking the the taxpayers to to foot the bill on these tags that they don't even want, I mean, to me that the whole thing just stinks, you know, with corruption and, and for the NCBa to have their convention and say in their members to tell them that they don't want a one eyed mandate, and then they go straight to Congress and say that we need you guys to pay for mandated electronic ID tags.

00:11:45:08 - 00:12:16:09
Jim Mundorf
You know, they're lobbying for the rule without lobbying for the rule. And a congressman, Thomas Massie, put on Twitter that National Cattlemen's Beef Association is in support of the rule, meaning they are in support of mandate electronic ID tags. yesterday an op ed came out from National Cattlemen's Beef Association president, where he, I mean, pretty much demanded that the industry go along with the mandated electronic ID tags.

00:12:16:11 - 00:12:45:18
Jim Mundorf
and so it it's kind of to me, part of it is good because it's kind of shedding a light, like, I, I feel like I can sound like a crazy person because I'm constantly going after these NCBa and how it operates. But I think this kind of stuff is showing more people how it operates. the reason I get wound up about it is because I do a lot of research and spend a lot of time, and I'm constantly scratching my head of how these people can be so corrupt and no one really sees it.

00:12:45:20 - 00:13:10:07
Jim Mundorf
but, you know, so sometimes it's a little helpful to, for them to, for them to kind of open their mouths and, and, and make it easier for me and others to spotlight how they're they are so corrupt and they really don't care about the producers or what the producers want. They care about their corporate partners, which is which is the packing and corporate cattle feeding industry.

00:13:10:09 - 00:13:33:19
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah, definitely. And and I know we should be sounding the alarm to consumers as well. You know, within ESG, if this traceability goes all the way to the grocery store and you use your credit card to purchase the beef, now they can tell you you've used this much carbon and now they can limit. Right. And that's where it's going for sure.

00:13:33:21 - 00:13:51:00
Chrissy Wozniak
well, I'm not sure how we, you know, we do sound crazy, like a lot of the time especially. I said, I've been researching it for so long, but that is where it's going. And and how do we reach those concerned? Sewers as well. We're only 2% of the population in agriculture. We need more voices, right?

00:13:51:02 - 00:14:14:02
Jim Mundorf
Yeah. And you know, one thing that's hard when you when you start looking into this stuff and you think it's crazy your own self. And how do I tell these people without being crazy, then you have to do the research. And so I pulled up the I always I've done a number of these podcasts and I haven't had this quote available, but I read the Tyson Foods, I think it was their 2022 ESG report.

00:14:14:04 - 00:14:38:11
Jim Mundorf
And in their own ESG report, they said Tyson Foods will also refine scope three estimates. And if you're familiar with the ESG, scope three is the calculating of greenhouse gas emissions from, your suppliers and your customers. That's what scope three is. And so what they said about that was that they wanted to, they said they want to refine their scope.

00:14:38:11 - 00:15:16:01
Jim Mundorf
Three estimates and goals as supplier data and standardize methodologies for calculations across industry sectors become available. And that is exactly what I'd would do. you know, a standardized methodology for calculation. So you the, the trouble that a lot of these, corporations have with their ESG and calculating ESG scores of their consumer cars or of their of their suppliers is, you know, farmers and ranchers aren't calculating greenhouse gas emissions, and they're not going to.

00:15:16:03 - 00:15:44:16
Jim Mundorf
But what so the goal is for ID is to make it incredibly easy for farmers and ranchers to start doing those calculations. and there's a $3 billion government program that has rolled out to it's kind of a to, I don't know what I'm trying to say. It's like, they're trying to kind of just get the ball rolling and test how these different plans can work.

00:15:44:18 - 00:16:18:16
Jim Mundorf
it's called the carbon smart commodity, program, and it's all about greenhouse gas emissions. And they've given $3 billion to different corporations and universities and a lot of it when it comes to the beef side, it all includes, the ID, and then they have this whole program where they're implementing, where, you know, you can click anywhere in the world and type in what kind of agriculture you're doing, and they will tell you how to reduce your greenhouse gas emissions.

00:16:18:18 - 00:16:35:07
Jim Mundorf
and I believe that the goal with this climate smart commodity is they will get that down to the county level, to where you tell them how many acres you have and they'll tell you how many cattle you can run. and that is where it gets really scary.

00:16:35:09 - 00:17:03:10
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. That's it. And I've seen already I was talking to a cabbage farmer a few months ago in North Carolina, and cabbage and Christmas trees, and they sell primarily to Walmart. So Walmart is the is that, I guess the venue through which the ESG scoring can go through even now, even today. And they had to, really refine what they were doing and make these reports to Walmart to be able to sell to them.

00:17:03:10 - 00:17:10:18
Chrissy Wozniak
So it's already impacting farmers on the ground. Yeah. It's not like some faraway thought. Right?

00:17:10:20 - 00:17:37:14
Jim Mundorf
Right. Yeah, yeah. And I mean, there's a lot of people who signed up for the kid thing. Like right now there's a sustainable beef tour. And you know, that sounds great. People in and I think they go around and they talk about good things. I haven't been to it, but I've seen pictures and heard about it. And they go to different ranches and they talk about cover crops and increase decrease in efficiency and all of that kind of stuff.

00:17:37:14 - 00:18:13:11
Jim Mundorf
And then but it's put on by the trust in beef, which is a farm, you know, this, this goes down a whole nother rabbit hole. It's Farm Journal got $40 million from this, which is a media company, the largest, I think, ag media company in the country. They got $40 million from the USDA this grant to to do this and their, their beef program is called Trust in Beef, where they want people to sign up and start doing these calculations and, and, you know, they'll tell you you're, you're calculating how you can reduce your greenhouse gases and how we're going to make, you know, save the climate and all this kind of stuff.

00:18:13:11 - 00:18:45:14
Jim Mundorf
And it gets people, you know, it doesn't sound real nefarious, but when you get down to it the way you can reduce your, carbon emissions is by reducing your production. And that's been proven through Denmark, Ireland, these places that have mandated electronic ID tags. And they have these strict, ESG rules. And I think Denmark now has a tax on, I think per head of cattle, which has been implemented within the last year.

00:18:45:14 - 00:18:56:11
Jim Mundorf
And Ireland has a plan to euthanize, I think, 40,000 head within a certain number of years of their cattle herd. and all in the name of, of climate change.

00:18:56:11 - 00:19:21:23
Chrissy Wozniak
So, yeah. Unbelievable. And another, implication, I guess, for, of this on animal owners. good. A dear friend of mine, Mindy Patterson from the cavalry group, who she exists to protect animal owners, but she brought to my attention that the that this will create a database of animal owners, and it will spread to all animal owners.

00:19:21:23 - 00:19:43:13
Chrissy Wozniak
Not. And they start with kit with cattle and, they're they'll be subject to Freedom of Information Act requests, which is huge. And then now animal owners can be easily accessed by animal extreme chemists or climate extranet extremists. So we can say goodbye to privacy. What do you think about that?

00:19:43:15 - 00:19:47:18
Jim Mundorf
Or just anybody that doesn't like you? It wants to put a lawsuit, you know, I mean, it's just.

00:19:47:20 - 00:19:48:11
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah.

00:19:48:13 - 00:20:10:23
Jim Mundorf
And that's the thing. And she has seen it on the front lines because she has fought with these. you know, I know she's been involved in these lawsuits and different things with, with the animal rights notes on the, on the pet ownership side. but yeah, and, you know, in the end, you know, I don't blame anybody for using electronic identification.

00:20:10:23 - 00:20:43:02
Jim Mundorf
Your tags, they're a valuable tool. Like I always say, one of the biggest opponents I know of uses them in every single head of cattle on his place. and the reason he does that is because he can put information in there that makes him part of a program that adds value to his cattle. Once those are mandated and that information is mandated, that value goes away and all cattle are are, you know, they're they're they're going to have the sorts of verification and all that stuff on that tag.

00:20:43:04 - 00:21:02:20
Jim Mundorf
I listen to a guy who's had a podcast and he was talking about he's building a beef packing plant, and he's talking about how there's a we have the technology where you could scan your package of beef and see exactly where it comes from. And the family that raised it and all that stuff. And that is, you know, that is valuable information.

00:21:02:20 - 00:21:21:06
Jim Mundorf
That would be, you know, that would be convenient and it would be nice to have and it would be a great marketing tool. But the problem is, you know, and if the beef packer wants to pay for that, they should be able to pay for that, and make a deal with the cattle producer and, and pay for that.

00:21:21:06 - 00:21:53:17
Jim Mundorf
But it should not be a government mandate. and it's just it goes back to like the, the digital currency, what is a central banking digital currency, where they want everybody to have their, you know, their good. All of the, the, government, all of your money just be controlled and, and digital, which to you look on the good side and there are good parts of that and it would be convenient, you know, it would be easy to track and easy to budget and do all kinds of things.

00:21:53:17 - 00:22:22:22
Jim Mundorf
But the problem is we have these, you know, people who don't, who want to control you. Like if there wasn't people that wanted to control every aspect of your life. And the reason for doing this was to wasn't to control every aspect of your life, some of these things would would make sense, but the fact that they've already shown that that the real goal is control with these, with these programs and, and these devices.

00:22:22:24 - 00:22:34:00
Jim Mundorf
and so that's what you have to be wary of. And that's why we just can't do these things, because this information, in the end, could control you. So.

00:22:34:02 - 00:23:06:01
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah, absolutely. And, and, you know, the any tyrannical system in history has never come out and said, hi, I'm a tyrant. Let me control you. They have to have a grain of truth in there. And, you know, I've seen with my own eyes, just a month and a half ago in DC, we met with USDA and, or with, at USDA, with Aphis, and they were giving us an update on, on bird flu.

00:23:06:03 - 00:23:42:22
Chrissy Wozniak
And this is one of the biggest examples of the USDA not using any common sense or logic. and really, it's is really in between that line of either they're completely incompetent or there's something nefarious going on. they she explained to us how bird flu is, is transmitted through the migration of birds. And, was telling us that the what, you know, the the bird poops all those on the farm, the chickens eat it.

00:23:42:24 - 00:24:02:21
Chrissy Wozniak
Breathe it in. And then, of course, they, have a chicken test to get sick. They're tested, and and the entire barn of chickens is stamped out. They call it the stamped out strategy. So they they kill all of them. Millions of chickens. And, and so, you know, we we asked. Well, so how you can't stamp out the birds in the wild.

00:24:02:21 - 00:24:26:01
Chrissy Wozniak
So what's the plan here? Well, we're going to continue to stamp out and, and I, I asked, I said, so what's going to happen with the birds in the wild. Is this just going to be perpetual? And the amazing thing that she said was, well, nature will take care of it. Nature will create birds that are resistant because the ones that aren't will, will die.

00:24:26:01 - 00:24:43:20
Chrissy Wozniak
Right? And then you'll have resistant birds. And then we just have to wait until that. And I said, well, wouldn't the logical next step be to let allow flu to go through a barn? But full biosecurity, take the birds that survived because they won't all died of millions and create a new flock? Oh no, that's not what we do.

00:24:43:22 - 00:25:00:06
Chrissy Wozniak
And I said, but why? Why wouldn't you do that? Doesn't that make sense? In the last two years, we'd have a fully resistant flock of birds. Yeah, that's just not how USDA does it. We we do the stamp out method. And I said, so you're not trying to solve the problem. You just told me that it would work because you said it works in nature.

00:25:00:06 - 00:25:18:06
Chrissy Wozniak
Why wouldn't it work in a barn? Of course it would work in a barn. And she just got frustrated and said, that's not how we do it. And now, you know, listening to dairy farmers being pressured to test their cows, you know what? What's happening? Is it incompetence or is it nefarious?

00:25:18:08 - 00:25:47:08
Jim Mundorf
Yeah. Well, to go back to this ID thing and traceability, the only thing, you know, the the real fear they're trying to put in the cattle industry is foot and mouth disease, which is highly contagious. I've been reading about it here the last couple days, and this whole op ed that the president of NCBa came out with is, you know, and they had a TV show where they, they say it's it's not a matter of time, it's a matter of or it's not a matter of if it's a matter of when, like foot and mouth disease is going to be here.

00:25:47:10 - 00:26:15:12
Jim Mundorf
And the only way to save the industry is ID tags. But that's like, why is that? I've never heard any on any of these shows or read any of these articles where they talk about it. How can we stop it from coming? Why is it coming here? And the reason that it is coming here is because we have a completely or open border, as well as a completely open import system, that is not regulated.

00:26:15:12 - 00:26:33:07
Jim Mundorf
The regulations on our importing, and foot and mouth disease can come in on packages. It can come in on clothing, it can come in on people. It's not harmful to people. But it it would decimate the cow herd. and it's highly contagious. So once it's in, it can travel through the air, I think up to 12 miles.

00:26:33:09 - 00:26:54:00
Jim Mundorf
And and cattle suck in a lot of air. So they are they're highly susceptible to it. and so why and and we've had it eradicated set to 1929. And so why all of a sudden is it not a question of if it's a question of when 100 years later, we haven't had it in this country for 100 years.

00:26:54:02 - 00:27:16:24
Jim Mundorf
And and the answer to that, that I don't think they want to answer is because we have this completely open and unregulated system of imports. Brazil has foot and mouth disease, but like I said, they are able they use it. Apparently they use the ID tags and they're able to regionalize it and they say, well, if we don't slaughter cattle from the region that it's in and import them into your country.

00:27:17:01 - 00:27:44:01
Jim Mundorf
But that's also, you know, they self-regulate those regions and, and that whole certification and they're the most corrupt country in the world as far as the beef industry is concerned. For sure. and so we're really relying on these incredibly corrupt corporations to, who are importing cattle from countries that have foot and mouth disease, into this country.

00:27:44:01 - 00:28:13:03
Jim Mundorf
And, and the reason why NCBa thinks the only way to do it is to control it is because they're partnered with the beef packers and importing. You know, this lean meat is is central to their to their profitability. And really the whole beef industry that they've kind of created. it it's central to how they've created it. It's just importing tons and tons of lean meat from these underdeveloped countries where it's very cheap.

00:28:13:05 - 00:28:49:11
Jim Mundorf
And, but, you know, there was a time, Brett Kenzie, the president sent me a text, and he went through the timeline of how these regulations have been whittled away and whittled away. And now I think we, the USDA, inspects, foreign beef packing facilities that import into the US every 2 to 3 years. And so and the beef packers and those facilities are told they don't inspect all the facilities they inspect randomly, but those facilities are told when the USDA is coming.

00:28:49:13 - 00:29:18:11
Jim Mundorf
And so everything can be, you know, changed every 2 to 3 years and brought up to up to par. And once the USDA leaves, it can go right back to how it was and that. So to me that like, we're just hammering the American livestock producer with the ID tags, but why aren't we talking about, you know, increasing inspections on foreign beef packers?

00:29:18:13 - 00:29:19:00
Jim Mundorf
and.

00:29:19:03 - 00:29:19:23
Chrissy Wozniak
You know, why is it.

00:29:19:23 - 00:29:42:15
Jim Mundorf
Goes back to who controls. Yeah, who controls, you know, the rulemaking process at the USDA. It's the corporations. It's not the American. They don't care what the American rancher wants. They care what you know, JBS Tyson, Cargill. They care what they want. And they get rules written specifically for them, which is what is the ID rule is yeah.

00:29:42:20 - 00:30:07:14
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah, it's it's sad, but very obvious when you're when you really start to look right. Yeah. Yeah. So I guess my next question would be, I think I had you on the show three years ago, and then two years ago, I heard one of your videos and you had just started raising the alarm about this issue. And I remember calling you and I think we talked for about an hour and, and I was just, what can I do?

00:30:07:14 - 00:30:32:23
Chrissy Wozniak
Like it? Feel I feel powerless. What can I do? And, and I remember clearly, you said, I don't know, it's bleak, but we have to do something right. And so I remember getting off the phone and going, well, what's the something? I don't know what the something is. So I, I thought really hard about it. I shifted my podcast to, to also include a lot more policy and and then I joined American Anger Women.

00:30:32:23 - 00:30:51:22
Chrissy Wozniak
I've been to DC twice. I really taken those words seriously. We have to do something. We have to at least try. And, so what is your advice to the consumer, to farms, to anybody in agribusiness? What can we all be doing? How can we do our part?

00:30:51:24 - 00:31:14:18
Jim Mundorf
well, the easy answer to that Harriet Heckman has and I have on my list. I need to call my representative again today. Harriet Hagman has, she's the in the House of Representatives for Wyoming, and she has an amendment that would ban, the use of any. It's kind of weird how, you know, she they have to word things a certain way, but it would it would stop this.

00:31:14:18 - 00:31:28:09
Jim Mundorf
The ID mandate is what it would do. Would make it to where they can't use any funds or or the USDA just wouldn't be able to do it. I was trying to go back and read it, and it's hard to find out. I was just trying to go back and read it right before this deal, but it's hard to find.

00:31:28:11 - 00:31:56:08
Jim Mundorf
But so the main thing is to tell your representatives to support Harriet Hagman's, amendment to the appropriations bill that would ban, electronic identification, air tags and cattle and the mandate. I think there's also a resolution to disapprove the rule. I think, Mike rounds, introduced that in the Senate. And so if you call any senator, ask them to support the motion.

00:31:56:08 - 00:32:32:20
Jim Mundorf
And, the resolution was, what did I say, the disapproval resolution of the rule? in the Senate or the Senate AG Committee, I think, is who that goes through. But then on a larger level, one thing that I am concerned about is know who your organization's know. Your policy of your ag organization's Farm Bureau has a policy that I don't think hardly any of their members know about that supports this mandated RFI, the USDA's rule, it supports the RFID rule.

00:32:32:22 - 00:32:50:10
Jim Mundorf
And this is something I'm kind of working on right now. And if you look through and Farm Bureau doesn't make their policy book real widely, it's not real easy to find. but I found it. And if you look through that policy, it's just a head scratcher. There's just a lot of stuff that has nothing to do with agriculture.

00:32:50:12 - 00:33:16:00
Jim Mundorf
It's. And it's just odd. But I think, you know, the Farm Bureau, the way it's set up, it, it's a good organization, has a chance to do a lot of good things, you know, because they work on the county level up to the state level and then up to the national level. but I think what happens is when you get to the national level and American Farm Bureau in Washington, DC, it just becomes incredibly corrupt.

00:33:16:02 - 00:33:39:24
Jim Mundorf
And they don't care. You know, they're lobbyists, they're not farmers, they're not ranchers. And they'll bring in farmers and ranchers to talk to the politicians. And then when they go home, they I feel like they probably in the same with the NCBa. They just kind of, go back to to pushing their agenda. and so I think it is important, you know, not just to be a part of these organizations.

00:33:39:24 - 00:34:05:14
Jim Mundorf
And for NCB, I would say stop paying your membership dues, stop going to their convention. Like, you know, they're advertising people to come to their convention again this year, and that's where they have their membership vote. Well, last year your membership vote did not count for anything. I mean, they passed a policy and they are lobbying against it according to and congressmen and, and their own presidents op ed, they're lobbying against what their members voted on.

00:34:05:16 - 00:34:09:02
Jim Mundorf
And so what is the point of being a member for that organization?

00:34:09:04 - 00:34:09:21
Chrissy Wozniak
and good point.

00:34:09:21 - 00:34:24:04
Jim Mundorf
And so, yeah, there are a lot of powerful ag organizations, but I think the members need to become more aware of their actual policy and what where they actually stand on these issues. So yeah.

00:34:24:06 - 00:34:29:17
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah, I, I couldn't agree with you more. So where can people find you.

00:34:29:19 - 00:34:54:17
Jim Mundorf
Yeah. So I have unfortunately summers are really hard for me. And I was hoping to have more people to write and do stuff. So I haven't had a lot going on the summer. but I'm working on stuff now, and so I'm at Lonesome lands.com, and then if you go for that on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, all that is, you'll find you'll find what I've been doing and, and what I'm posting.

00:34:54:17 - 00:35:01:10
Jim Mundorf
So and YouTube, YouTube's probably my biggest platform. So, yeah.

00:35:01:12 - 00:35:14:00
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. That's great. And, one last question for you. Why do you serve the industry this way? Well, why do you have this deep heart for trying to sound an alarm for everyone? Even years ago?

00:35:14:02 - 00:35:38:16
Jim Mundorf
It's not that that is a good question, because it's almost like, you know, when I started Lonesome Lands, I just kind of wanted to write about agriculture a little bit. And and start writing and doing things. And when I started looking at things there, it's because, no, it's very few. I mean, I'm not I don't want to say no one because there's people like you and there's other people who who I brought on the podcast and different things like that, but it's very few.

00:35:38:16 - 00:36:04:07
Jim Mundorf
And there needs to be more, people really representing the small, independent agriculture. And I think agriculture now, you know, when people say they're advocates or, you know, they're advocating for agriculture, it doesn't really there's a lot of really bad actors in agriculture. And this ESG movement is what has brought that out and opened people's eyes to that.

00:36:04:09 - 00:36:29:10
Jim Mundorf
You know, they're not working. You know, the people at Cargill, Tyson, JBS, these big corporations are not working for the small farmer. We've lost 107,000. small farm and cattle ranches in the last five years, I think 400,000 or something. Small farms all together. it's crazy. And so if you are an advocate for agriculture, you are. That is an abject failure.

00:36:29:12 - 00:36:51:23
Jim Mundorf
you know, and I'm involved in that, I guess. and so to me, it's just I want to see agriculture stay independent, and farmers and ranchers keep their freedom. That's important to me. It's what I grew up with. it's what I want my kids to have. And so that's that's pretty much it.

00:36:52:00 - 00:36:58:12
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. Awesome. Well, thank you for what you do. And thank you for giving people courage to also talk about it as that's important.

00:36:58:14 - 00:37:02:19
Jim Mundorf
Yes. Thank you. Thank you for having me. And thank you for talking about it.

00:37:02:21 - 00:37:20:22
Chrissy Wozniak
And thanks to all who are watching or listening. If you want to learn more, links are provided in the show notes. And don't forget to subscribe to North American Tech Spotlight on Spotify. Apple, Amazon lesson notes or if you prefer, Video, you can find us on Rumble or Telegram channels, or really wherever you listen to podcasts. If you like this episode, I would love it if you shared it and have a great day!