The U.S. House Agriculture Committee has passed their 2024 Farm Bill, which supported all of pork producer’s farm bill requests, including a federal fix to the host of Proposition 12 issues plaguing producers and consumers.
“A contentious House Ag Committee markup of a new $1.51 trillion farm bill began on May 23 but ended early May 24 with four Democrats joining all 29 panel Republicans in voting for the measure, bringing the final tally to 33-21,” reports Pro Farmer analyst Jim Wiesemeyer. “The four Democrats voting for the farmer-friendly measure were Don Davis of North Carolina, Yadira Caraveo of Colorado, Eric Sorensen of Illinois and Sanford Bishop of Georgia. Remember when many lawmakers and former lawmakers said there would be no House Dem vote for the measure during the markup vote? They were wrong.”
Northern Colorado relies on the strength of the agriculture industry, which must be underpinned by a strong and fair Farm Bill, pointed out Congresswoman Yadira Caraveo (CO-08) in a release.
“Throughout the last year, I’ve listened to the ideas of farmers and ranchers in Weld, Larimer, and Adams Counties, and I’ve worked hard to ensure their perspectives are reflected in the Farm Bill,” she said. “I was proud to lead numerous proposals that were included in the Farm Bill, and today I voted to advance the bill in order to continue the process of developing a Farm Bill that works for Colorado’s producers and working families alike.”
Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, sent out a statement explaining that she has always believed there is a bipartisan path forward if legislators maintain the long tradition of respecting the needs and interests of the broad farm and food coalition.
“This has always been the foundation of a successful Farm Bill,” Stabenow said. “I’m glad that Chairman Thompson is working to move the process forward so that we can complete our work on the 2024 Farm Bill this year. Despite areas of common ground, it is now clear that key parts of the House bill split the Farm Bill coalition in a way that makes it impossible to achieve the votes to become law. And it is also clear that we do not have time to waste on proposals that cannot meet that goal.”
A Golden Opportunity for Pork Producers
The 2024 Farm Bill is a golden opportunity to address a top issue for pork producers across the country – California Prop 12, National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) President Lori Stevermer, a pork producer from Easton, Minn., said in a release.
“At a time when bipartisanship is often a four-letter word in Washington, we applaud the House Agriculture Committee for working together to deliver a farm bill that validates America’s pork producers’ needs,” Stevermer said.
Stevermer urges the U.S. Senate to follow suit and provide much needed certainty to pork producers and consumers across the country. Proposition 12, a 2018 California ballot initiative, prohibits the sale of uncooked whole pork meat not produced according to the state’s arbitrary housing dimensions. Recent USDA data indicates price spikes as high as 41% for pork in California since Prop. 12 came into effect, NPPC shared in a release.
The House Farm Bill also accomplishes 100% of U.S. pork producers’ priorities, including:
• Preservation of necessary resources to protect the nation’s food supply through foreign animal disease prevention.
• Increase in market access programs for U.S. pork.
• Boost in resources for feral swine eradication to protect the health of our herds.
• Authorization of the National Detector Dog Training Center, which serves as the first line of defense for early detection at ports of entry.
Read More:
State of the Pork Industry Report: Takeaways from 2023
