Prop 12 Spurs Costly Compliance for Farmers; Farm Bill Fix

Katie Brown, President of the Illinois Pork Producers Association, talks about ongoing challenges tied to California's Proposition 12 and how it has created a patchwork of regulations for producers across the US, while driving higher pork prices for California consumers.

“Prop 12 that came out of California, says that what I do on my farm has to have a specific amount of square feet per sow. So that's believe it's 24 square feet per sow that I need to provide in the current settings that I have. In order for me to comply with that, I would have to completely redo and rebuild or restructure our sow farms, which is very expensive.”

Brown explains how Proposition 12 has increased the price of pork for California consumers,

“What we've seen happen since this has gone through is because it's so expensive that the price of pork, and seen in California to buy pork in California, has raised upwards of 24%.”

This issue is being addressed in a current version of the farm bill as proposed by the House. It has text that clarifies that states and local governments cannot impose a condition or standard on the production of covered livestock unless the livestock is physically located within such a state or local government.