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What’s taking place in the pork industry in California and Massachusetts is not something the rest of agriculture can ignore, AgriTalk’s host Chip Flory said during a conversation with Terry Wolters, NPPC president.

Don’t do it for free, urged Bill Hollis, DVM, president of Professional Swine Management, at the Carthage Swine Conference. Hollis kicked off a session on Prop 12 with CDFA’s Liz Cox, DVM, who oversees the program.

On the same day NPPC and AFBF filed a reply brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on Proposition 12, the California Department of Food and Agriculture announced it has finally completed the Prop 12 implementation rules.

Proposition 12 sets the industry backwards in terms of animal care, says pig farmer Scott Hays. Ironically, what was done in the name of improving animal welfare, could do the opposite.

Proposition 12 regulations will increase the cost of raising pigs and ultimately, the cost of pork for consumers, National Pork Producers Council Vice President Lori Stevermer said during a media roundtable.

SCOTUS will hear oral arguments in a case by NPPC and AFBF against California’s Prop 12, which bans the sale of pork from hogs born to sows that weren’t raised by the state’s “arbitrary” production standards.

“If California were to win this Supreme Court case, there’s nothing stopping the state from saying, for example, you can only sell corn in California if it’s harvested with an electric combine,” says Dillard.

Justices asked whether Prop 12 could lead other states to impose their moral values beyond their borders.

Pork-consuming California stakeholders negotiated with the state of California to extend the injunction against the implementation of Proposition 12 for whole pork.

As more states pass and implement policies addressing practices that can impact farm animal welfare, USDA ERS offers an in-depth look at the current state of these policies and the resulting impact on animal ag.