Senate committee rejects Prop 12 farm bill language, NPPC vows to keep fighting

Proposition 12 language included in the Farm Bill recently failed to advance out of the Senate Agriculture Committee, which is a significant setback for pork producers, according to the National Pork Producers Council Vice President of Government Affairs, Maria Zieba.

“We were a bit disappointed to see that during the the committee markup that it did not pass, so it went down 10 to 11. That certainly isn't the outcome that we wanted to see. But you know, not having Proposition 12 as as part of the Senate fix is something that we also have been working with various members to to address, but the fight isn't over. We still have a bit of time in this Congress to fix our number one priority and and eliminate that uncertainty. We see that the Senate is going to come back in in September, and our our hope is that they would quickly take up the farm bill and then move into a conference.“

California's Proposition 12 sets housing requirements for breeding sows and restricts the sale of pork in California if those standards are not met. NPPC says the law affects producers nationwide because pork sold in California must comply regardless of where it was produced, and argues it is not science-based, and also warns the law could make U.S. pork less competitive in international markets.