Ag Groups say California's Prop 12 Will Result in Substantial Costs

Ag Groups say California's Prop 12 Will Result in Substantial Costs

Russell Nemetz
Russell Nemetz
In a recent U.S. appeals court brief filed, the National Pork Producers Council and the American Farm Bureau Federation emphasized that California's Proposition 12 violates the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution by imposing arbitrary animal housing standards that reach outside of the state's borders to farms across the country.

"Essentially all-99.8%-of the pork Californians consume is imported from out of state. Hundreds of thousands of out-of-state pigs are needed to supply that pork every year. And every pig from which any cut of pork reaches California necessarily bears Proposition 12's substantial costs, meaning that farmers and consumers everywhere pay for California's preferred animal-housing methods," the joint filing explained.

"The blow to out-of-state farmers will be severe, with some certainly going out of business," the filing added. Beginning Jan. 1, 2022, Proposition 12 requires all sows producing pork for the California market to be raised according to California's highly prescriptive production standards. The proposition applies to any uncooked pork sold in the state, whether raised there or outside its borders.

In December 2019, NPPC and the American Farm Bureau Federation filed a lawsuit with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, asking the court to strike California's Proposition 12 as invalid. That lawsuit is currently pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Source: NPPC & AFBF

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