U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, has introduced the Save Our Bacon Act to help aid family farms across the country by providing certainty against a dangerous and chaotic web of conflicting farm regulations, including California Proposition 12.
California and Massachusetts have proposed arbitrary mandates on production practices for farmers in other states. Hinson says the Save Our Bacon Act would alleviate this overregulation by prohibiting state and local governments from interfering with the production of livestock in other states.
“The Save Our Bacon Act reaffirms livestock producers’ right to sell their products across state lines, without interference from arbitrary mandates,” Hinson says. “This legislation will stop out-of-touch activists — who don’t know the first thing about farming — from dictating how Iowa farmers do their job.”
National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) President Duane Stateler, a pork producer from McComb, Ohio, has expressed producers’ support of the bill.
“We sincerely appreciate Representative Hinson for consistently engaging with family farmers and championing legislation that provides the certainty we need to pass along our farms to the next generation,” he says. “Without legislation to shield America’s 60,000-plus pork-producing family farms from heavy-handed, multi-state regulations, many producers otherwise would be faced with business-crushing decisions.”
Stateler notes that bipartisan support for “averting a web of contradictory state laws” is growing, with support from President Donald Trump, former President Joe Biden and their respective agriculture secretaries, Brooke Rollins and Tom Vilsack.
If left unchecked, Prop 12, along with a wave of contradictory farm regulations, will soon sweep the nation. Stateler says these include:
- Serious threats of industry consolidation, pushing multi-generation farm families — especially small and medium-sized farms — out of business.
- Skyrocketing grocery bills, with some pork products experiencing price hikes of as much as 41%.
- Far-reaching and harmful impacts on both farmers and consumers.
- Unfair costs forced on farmers to pay for out-of-state regulators to audit their farms.
- Significant increases in the cost of raising pigs — by as much as 15% on each pig marketed.
- Potential harm to pigs, as arbitrary, unscientific laws hamstring farm veterinarians’ herd health plans.
“With Proposition 12, California has set out-of-touch, arbitrary requirements for how producers should operate their farming businesses,” says Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds. “California activists now claim to know what’s best for the producers who have raised livestock from generation to generation. The Save Our Bacon Act will allow Iowa’s farmers to continue doing what they do best - feeding our country and the world.”
Iowa pig farmer and Iowa Pork Producers Association President Aaron Juergens says he appreciates Hinson’s leadership in fighting to protect Iowa pig farmers, who work hard to care for their animals and produce safe, high-quality pork.
“The Supreme Court made it clear the best option is for Congress to address California’s Prop 12 to prevent a patchwork of conflicting state regulations,” Juergens says. “Since Prop 12 took effect, the law has negatively impacted both consumers and producers. We urge Congress to act this year and support Representative Hinson’s efforts to stop this burdensome mandate.”
