MACHIAS – The Maine Department of Agriculture is hosting a listening session at the University of Maine at Machias at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 18, to discuss the controversial state and federal farm and livestock identification program.

The session is the same as one held in December that failed to be publicized and drew only six people.

Sen. Kevin Raye, R-Perry, introduced the legislation that required the listening sessions to be held in each county and said even he was not told of the December gathering.

“We had a meeting last spring in Columbia Falls,” Raye said recently, “and more than 100 people showed up. This is a huge issue. There is a lot of concern and a lot of confusion.”

The highly controversial federal and state animal identification systems, which were originally proposed to be mandatory and are now voluntary, have many farmers fearing they would be required to register their animals. Many farmers feel that having the government know all sorts of information about them – including where their farm was and how many of each type of animal they had – was not just a violation of privacy but also could be sold to private companies.

Many have expressed that although the program would be voluntary, it could easily change to mandatory in the future.

Although informational sessions were held throughout the country, Maine was the only state where violence erupted. State veterinarian Don Hoenig and Maine Department of Agriculture’s Animal Industry Director Shelley Doak were pelted with manure “pies” at a hearing in Ellsworth last March.