USDA Announces Cooperative Agreement Funding for Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Projects in 3 States

The United States Department of Agricultureâ's Animal and Plant Health Service (APHIS) is announcing the funding to support animal disease traceability (ADT) and electronic identification for cattle. The money will fund 3 of the 11 projects submitted with each coordinated by state organizations. The 3 to be funded are the Florida Cattleman's Association, Texas Animal Health Association and The University of Wisconsin at Madison which will jointly help USDA increase the accuracy, efficiency, and cost effectiveness of collecting key pieces of traceability information, while supporting the cattle industryâ's management and marketing needs. These projects will document how to link ultrahigh frequency (UHF) Backtags with other identification devices to collect animal movement and disease data while still maintaining the speed of commerce. We need to learn more about how adding RFID functionality will support traceability in these high-volume, fast-paced environments. The projects will gather important real-world data to help USDA; States, Tribes and industry advance animal disease traceability and implement electronic ID.