Ameraucana Breeders Club
The Official Forum of the Ameraucana Breeders Club => Housing, Health & Hatching => Topic started by: John on January 09, 2012, 05:16:37 PM
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I received a \"U.S. Census of Agriculture Report\" in the mail today that says \"YOUR RESPONSE IS REQUIRED BY LAW\". They will be happy that I am responding, since they did provide a stamped envelope, but they won\'t be happy with my little note saying \"No Thanks - I pay taxes on my income & the rest is my business\".
There is a US Census every 10 years that is required and I sent that in with only the truly required information.
In this ag census they want to know my sex, age and all kinds of personal financial information that is none of their business! The say \"the information you provide is confidential and will not be provided to any individual or organization\". I saved them the trouble by not providing the confidential information to them, so they don\'t have to keep any secrets.
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I usually respond with estimates, but I agree with you in principle. Big Brother is totally out of control. I have not received my survey form yet, but it will probably be in the mailbox soon.
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I haven\'t gotten one - what puts you on their radar?
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I have a farm operation and also rent some farm land.
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I received the same letter. I am curious as to what transpires when:
\" If you do not reply, you may personally visited or you may receive a phone call.\"
Sounds threatening that I may be \"personally visited...\" Should I have cookies ready?
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If you want to stay off their radar, don\'t claim farm income or expenses on your taxes. We had to fill those out years ago for our very, very small cattle raising operation. Pain.
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I got one two or three years ago and threw it in the garbage. No one stopped by.
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Ours came yesterday. I\'m wondering if good ol\' Google didn\'t tip them off. The satellite view of our property makes it pretty obvious we\'ve got something going on. That or the folks at Southern States and Tractor Supply who always ask for your phone number or zip code when you check out.
Either way, I did complete ours and sent it back today. With the changes to the Farm Bill, the USDA may be conducting the survey to see what\'s happening in the supply chain and which research areas to prioritize for funding. I get their publication, \"Agricultural Research,\" at the office and they do have a number of initiatives to encourage young people to pursue careers in agriculture. If they find through their census that a good number of young people are investing heavily in farm capital, they may provide special grant and loan packages or offer training/outreach through the land grant colleges. Since I work in university research, I\'ll give them the benefit of the doubt on this one.
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I thought NPIP might be to blame, since it\'s a federal program, but I didn\'t get one last year. But several of my friends with goats have gotten them, and one DID get a visit, in fact, she came home to find the person in her pasture with her animals! She was much nicer than I would have been. But, although I belong to ADGA and am enrolled in the Scrapie\'s Program (required to show), and now NPIP, knock on wood I haven\'t heard from them. But I have a renewed interest in LGDs...
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I got my very 1st one. I\'ve owned acrage for over 20 years, had cattle & horses. We did the NPIP 3 years ago. I have never claimed income from my property. I should get a 1099 off of paypal this year, but that should not be traced back to AG for I could be selling anything. Don\'t know why I got one now. I also don\'t like to put personal info for big brother to know.
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Unless somebody has seen your operation and reported it to Dept of Ag, it must be the NPIP enrollment. Apparently with some levels of government the left hand does know what the right hand is doing afterall. Quite surprising.
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the person in her pasture
I would take pictures of them trespassing and then escort them off my property with a gun in hand.
Quite surprising.
...he said in jest.
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the person in her pasture
I would take pictures of them trespassing and then escort them off my property with a gun in hand.
Ditto, but the woman was all gushy nice about how cute the goats were and she just couldn\'t resist petting them and my friend let it go. She won\'t fare as well here. There\'s a UPS driver out there somewhere who will likely never open another gate again...
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I don\'t think it is because of NPIP. My NPIP is in my name only and I just got my survey today.
It has my husbands name on it.
We have a cattle brand registered with the State of WA from when we were raising beefalo, I imagine this is where they got the information from.
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I haven\'t gotten one yet but I wanted to say good on ya John. I echo all the sentiments about Big Brother being totally out of control.
Thus far, my birds are still a hobby vice a business. Meaning they cost me money rather than make me money. Maybe that\'s why I haven\'t gotten one but I also haven\'t gotten the NPIP due to the new stupid law that was passed a year or two ago.
If I do get one, I\'ll be sending the same thing that you did, John!
God Bless,
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We also recieved one of these. Bleh. We aren\'t NPIP (have been trying to aviod big Brother), but we do have cattle and crop farm. It also had both mine and my hubby\'s name on it, even though he is the only one whose got the crops and cattle under his name. What a waste of time.
I also echo, good for you John! I may let our 13 month old fill ours out for us, and send it back to them with thier convienent envelope.
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I think I\'ll let me 6 year old do mine - half the birds are his anyway. Income for 2011 - 100,000 Lego pieces...
I\'m wondering if what put us on their radar is all the above. I refused to sign up for NAIS, a condition of showing at the state fair, but caved on the Scrapies so that I could show at all. After the fact, I found somewhere in the fine print of the packet they sent me that, once NAIS got up and running, the information would automatically transfer over. Needless to say, I was furious, but they already had my info, couldn\'t un-ring the bell. I\'d have thought twice about doing NPIP had I not already opened the door with that. I\'m not hearing as much chatter about NAIS, but I\'m wondering if that\'s what we\'re starting to see - they\'re rolling all of their data from various programs into one database. And forcibly enrolling everyone who ever gave them ANY information into their \'voluntary\' program. If I had it to do over again, I think I\'d have enrolled in NAIS from the start. As a Johnston County hog farmer named Jose...
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Would you believe I no more than finished my post last night, then went downstairs, and guess what was sitting in the mail the wife brought home?
Yup. You guessed it. Haven\'t opened it yet but they aren\'t getting much info from me!
God Bless,
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I look for the US Government to shove the NAIS on us like
a baby calf getting a Bolus whether he wants it or not! I\'ve said it from the beginning and will keep on saying-the only reason for the NAIS is: when the one world government takes over, they will know where all the food animals are.
We haven\'t received our survey yet, but I bet its coming soon.
Paul Smith
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Got the survey. We have been NPIP for about 2 years. Never reported farm income (there isn\'t any to report but I could probably try to take some losses :stare:) We that have recieved them are varied and different but the only common thread looks to be NPIP and that shouldn\'t be because as Jean said, ours too came in both names but I\'m the only one on the NPIP cert.
Denise
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Paul, I\'m with you. And John, thanks so much for starting this thread!!!
You not only gave me a good line to write on my report and send back but you saved me a BUNCH of time checking into what this is all about.
I couldn\'t believe some of the stuff they wanted to know! Big Brother, get out of my life and leave me alone! I will render unto Ceaser that which is Ceaser\'s as I am called to do but that\'s all he gets.
God Bless,
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Big Brother, get out of my life and leave me alone!
We aren\'t all going to agree on some of this, but it pertains to us in this fancy and it is great to share our experiences, ideas, knowledge, etc. \"...dissemination of relevant information\" is how the mission statement puts it. How you deal with it is ultimately up to you (yet...and that is good news). Maybe we can all share a cell sometime.
I didn\'t take much time to read it, but on the back it bugged me that they wanted to know something about \"Hispanic\" involvement or something like that. I don\'t agree with giving them any information about my finances, property, plans, etc., but I understand why they want to know some of those things. But, they are way off base trying to relate age, sex, skin color and whatever else that has nothing to do with farming/ranching to any agricultural operation!
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I didn\'t read it all either, John. Didn\'t see the ethnicity stuff but that doesn\'t surprise me.
The one that stuck out to me was when they asked if I had internet or not on my place! Like, they need to know that???
God Bless,
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Well I had tossed mine in the fireplace to use as kindling. Should I be nervous? Should I ask for another and send it back with \"None of your Business\"?
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when the one world government takes over, they will know where all the food animals are.
I can\'t believe I didn\'t think of that when I had the lady come out to test all of my birds to get on the NPIP program this year. They DO keep track of every bird and egg you buy and hatch. We have talked about the potential crisis of the whole food situation and I truly think this is something to be prepared for. You can bet I will be checking into how to back pedal, if possible. I don\'t want them knowing how many birds I have!
I haven\'t gotten anything, but if I do, we\'ll know it\'s associated with NPIP.
Sharon
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\"Hispanic\" involvement
I\'m guessing this pertains to illegal immigration. Most farms around here employee Hispanic workers. They want to know who does and who doesn\'t so they know who to raid checking for green cards. Maybe I shouldn\'t tell them my name is Jose after all...
I\'ve considered marking mine \"return to sender - addressee deceased\" and dropping it in a box somewhere. But it still hasn\'t arrived.
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Well, they have resorted to trying to call me now.....
If anyone sees a number on your caller id that says \"GSA\" it is them.
I read an interesting article in a small town agricultural paper that said what they are doing is not legal and they do not have the right to do this type of census. The local sheriff\'s office is even backing up the citizens by stating if the Feds come out to your property to try to get you to complete the survey they are trespassing and you can have them removed.
Wow, I wonder if it will go that far?
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The local sheriff\'s office is even backing up the citizens by stating if the Feds come out to your property to try to get you to complete the survey they are trespassing and you can have them removed.
Good for them!!
I still haven\'t gotten one, maybe they haven\'t noticed me...
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I wonder if it will go that far?
Very little would surprise me with the government...especially with the feds.
The more they know about you the more they can control you and what you think you own. It could work well with the latest executive order...
http://www.naturalnews.com/035301_Obama_executive_orders_food_supply.html
This executive order states that the President alone has the authority to take over all resources in the nation (labor, food, industry, etc.) as long as it is done \"to promote the national defense\" -- a phrase so vague that it could mean practically anything.
The power to seize control and take over these resources is delegated to the following government authorities:
(1) the Secretary of Agriculture with respect to food resources, food resource facilities, livestock resources, veterinary resources, plant health resources, and the domestic distribution of farm equipment and commercial fertilizer;
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Further proof of exactly why the second amendment was added to the constitution...
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That\'s the one John that I was just referring to in another thread I just made a post to.
You referred to the \"Nanny State\" in a previous thread somewhere and it reminds me of something I recently heard. Some pundit was talking about the state of the country today and how everything really boils down to two ideologies. That, in and of itself, didn\'t surprise me. What did surprise me was when he said the two ideologies have to do with the role of Gov\'t. One side believes in personal responsibility and individuality while the other believes in Big Government and Entitlements.
Given what\'s happened over the last four years and the most recent comment about \"more flexibility\" after the election, I\'m VERY concerned about the future of this country and keeping the Gov\'t out of our lives.
God Bless,
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Read \"The Hunger Games\". I know there is a movie out, but I haven\'t seen it. I read the book.
Even subsistence hunting and gathering is a crime in the book.
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This survey was due Feb 5th and I filled it out until the last pages, then it started asking about info from my income tax filing for year 2012, which I haven't filed my taxes yet, so I stopped and didn't send it in. I usually file extended and those aren't due until OCTOBER!!
If they stop by this address in town, they won't find any farming activity as that is 25 miles away in a different county. But I figure they got my name address cause I file a farm form on the taxes for the alpacas.
They want to know if I have poultry, sell eggs or hatching eggs, chicks, etc etc. I figure since I don't take any of that on the farm form, I don't report it. Why should I have to tell uncle sam if I sold one dozen eggs last year for $2. What happened to a farmers wife being able to keep her egg money as hidden extra income that even her hubby isn't allowed to know about??
Of course, now that I have missed their deadline, I always have a plate of cookies ready.....
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This year I just filled in my name and the date on the address page and returned it with a post-it note explaining the information they are requesting in personal. They sent another, a few days ago, with a letter trying to bring me around to their way of thinking. I did the same thing and requested that they remove me from their mailing list using a post-it note.
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I guess I could mail in the incomplete one...
One would think that if they put down a deadline, it would mean something, guess not...
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I mailed mine in a couple of days after their arbitrary deadline. I estimated many of the numbers since they only use it for macro reporting and policy making.
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Strange, I still haven't received one. Although I just received my 3rd jury summons in 13 months, so the gov't is aware I exist...