Some farmers in the Northeast Kingdom say they’ll defy the state Agriculture Agency’s plan to require them to register farms that have livestock.
The state wants such a registry as it prepares for the possibility that bird flu or other diseases that can spread in livestock turn up in Vermont.
But some farmers say the plan is an example of too much government control.
The Agriculture Agency held a hearing on the registration plan yesterday in Newport. The Legislature required that the public be given a chance to weigh in about the registry.
Some farmers in Newport say they’d either pay the thousand-dollar fine for not registering or they would destroy their animals so they wouldn’t have to register.