The U.S. Department of Agriculture is providing an additional $1.5 million for national animal identification system cooperative agreements with states.

Earlier this year, USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services received a transfer of $18.8 million from USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation to begin implementing the NAIS. Of that amount, APHIS originally set aside $11.64 million for cooperative agreements with state and tribal governments. The additional $1.5 million will be used to fund additional such agreements. Remaining funds are being used in support of other aspects of the national system, including the development of database architecture.

In an interview in Meat Marketing and Technology magazine, Doran Junek, executive director of the Kansas Cattlemen's Association, described the $11.6 million originally earmarked for pilots as "woefully inadequate."