The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) and National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) filed a brief on June 13 with the U.S. Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 12. The state law seeks to ban the sale of pork from hogs that don’t meet the state’s arbitrary production standards, even if the pork was raised on farms outside of California, AFBF said in a release.
The organizations say Proposition 12 violates the constitution’s Commerce Clause, which restricts states from regulating commerce outside their borders. The brief states Proposition 12 “will require massive and costly changes across the entire $26-billion-a-year industry. And it inescapably projects California’s policy choices into every other State, a number of which expressly permit their farmers to house sows in ways inconsistent with Proposition 12.”
“California is attempting to set the rules for the entire country,” AFBF President Zippy Duvall said in a release. “Farmers are dedicated to caring for their animals, but this misguided law inhibits efforts to provide them a safe environment. Almost all of the pork consumed in California is produced outside of its borders. This law has the potential to devastate small family farms across the nation through unnecessary and expensive renovations, and every family will ultimately pay for the law through higher food prices.”
Meanwhile, NPPC President Terry Wolters, owner of Stoney Creek Farms in Pipestone, Minn., said in the release, “Farmers’ top priority every day is the health, safety, and welfare of the animals in their care. California’s Proposition 12 illegally regulates farms across the country and international borders. It will have ripple effects of jeopardizing the health and safety of the entire U.S. herd, driving many smaller farmers out of business, dramatically increasing costs, and limiting consumer choice of affordable and nutritious pork products.”
NPPC and AFBF point out that Proposition 12:
- Unconstitutionally regulates commerce outside of California
- Governs activity outside of California’s borders and beyond its police powers
- Imposes substantial burdens on out-of-state farmers and their customers.
Proposition 12 is one of the reasons why Smithfield Foods is closing its only pork processing plant in California, pointing out that it’s simply too expensive to do business in California. Smithfield will also reduce its sow herd in Utah and is exploring strategic options to exit its farms in Arizona and California.
Read the brief here.
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