Latest News From Prop 12

When Trish Cook, past president of the Iowa Pork Producers Association, joined 20 Iowa pig farmers on a trip to California to see the effect of Proposition 12, she wasn’t surprised by the amount of chaos it's created.

A North Carolina pork producer and NPPC's Holly Cook presented to members of Congress on the economic and on-farm impacts of California Proposition 12 and Massachusetts Question 3. Here's why it matters.

California’s Proposition 12 has already raised pork prices for consumers in California and decreased pork sales volumes in the state, according to data compiled by the USDA's Office of the Chief Economist.  

There will be chaos in the U.S. meat marketplace without congressional action on California's Prop 12 law that tightened animal welfare requirements for pork products sold in the state, says U.S. Secretary of Ag Vilsack.

Phil Borgic vividly remembers sitting in his civics class years ago. He thought it was pretty cut and dry that one state can’t tell another how to run their business. But that didn’t apply for Prop 12, he told AgriTalk.

Pork producers across the country continue to voice their concerns over how California’s Proposition 12 could negatively impact family farms and are looking to Congress for a solution.

Although implementation of California’s Proposition 12 is technically in effect, experts agree the practical aspect of enforcement is less obvious. The most notable changes will follow full enforcement on Jan. 1, 2024.

“Schillinger Farms is Prop 12 compliant in California.” Messages like this are popping up on social media as show pig producers who’ve become Proposition 12 certified prepare to sell show pigs in California in 2024.

"California Prop 12 has the potential to disrupt the free movement of goods across state lines and poses a serious threat to small family farms," Hinson testified before the House Committee on Agriculture.

Has the costly impact of Proposition 12 reached California consumers? A new study out of the USDA Chief Economist's Office suggests it has.

California Department of Food and Agriculture released details on the on-site inspection requirements for a pork producer obtaining a third-party certification according to Proposition 12. 

Reports of empty meat shelves in California can’t be attributed to Prop 12, said Karen Ross, Secretary of the California Department of Agriculture, at the Ag Media Summit in Palm Springs, Calif. At least, not yet.

It’s not feasible to expect all pork producers to comply with Proposition 12, explains Kelly Cushman, NPPC vice president of domestic policy. Here's a look at her chat with Chip Flory of AgriTalk this week.

NPPC supports the Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression Act, but Clemens Food Group is not supportive, and Hormel, Smithfield and Tyson have said they intend to comply with California's Prop 12 law.

California Proposition 12 creates significant challenges and market uncertainty for pig farmers across the country and has far-reaching implications beyond the pork industry, NPPC notes in its latest economic update. 

Is Question 3 worse than Prop 12? That’s a question on many producers’ minds. A Massachusetts judge has signed an extension of the current stay on implementation of Q3. Here's what that means for the industry.

“Pork producers need the freedom to operate without worrying about excessive government regulation tripping them up, and that’s exactly what this bill will do," says Rep. Zach Nunn (R-Iowa).

The Prop 12 implementation modification and conflicting media reports have raised confusion among producers who want to know, “What’s in it for me?” NPPC Chief Legal Strategist Michael Formica sets the record straight.

California has modified the implementation date for Proposition 12 compliance from July 1 to Dec. 31, in an attempt to achieve a smoother transition for the entire pork value chain, including foreign trading partners. 

A group of senators and representatives are doing everything they can to make sure pork can be sold everywhere in the nation, including California.

Economists share their insights at World Pork Expo and the bottom line doesn’t look pretty. Still, there are things producers can do to ease the pain.

Should Congress take on Proposition 12 and pass legislation that prevents one state from telling any other state how to run its business? Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) sure thinks so.

While California producers must convert pork production practices to comply with Proposition 12, pork producers across other states might not be so quick to change. Could California struggle to meet their demand?

Here is a look at three unfortunate realities found along the road to Prop 12 becoming law that are both perplexing and disheartening to pork producers across the country.

Who enforces Prop 12? Here's a look at California Department of Food and Agriculture's recent guidance titled "Questions and Answers Related to Pork Sales in the Wake of the 2023 Supreme Court Decision."

The CDFA will be hosting a Prop 12 Implementation Webinar Series consisting of three webinars reviewing Prop 12 Animal Confinement regulations and requirements for end-users, distributors and pork producers.

To help bring clarity to the recent Prop 12 ruling and how it may impact the pork supply chain, join Jennifer Shike, editor of Farm Journal’s PORK, and industry experts in the upcoming Farm Country Update on June 1.

As of July 1, all transit product is supposed to be labeled accordingly for export, for trans-shipment or “not Prop 12 compliant.” 

The Supreme Court’s ruling on Proposition 12 has added “a whole bunch more uncertainty to a very uncertain market,” said Lee Schulz, Iowa State University ag economist and Extension livestock specialist.

From a legal perspective, attorney Eldon McAfee of Des Moines, Iowa, says the Prop 12 ruling came as a bit of a surprise. 

Missouri pork producer Scott Hays says he doesn’t anticipate making the changes needed to his pig farm to become Proposition 12 compliant. 

There’s no question the Prop 12 ruling is bad news for U.S. pork producers who will have to comply with this California law, says NPPC's Michael Formica. But farmers aren’t the only ones who will suffer. Here's why.

If California can regulate how pregnant sows are treated 2,000 miles away, that means every state can do that for every agricultural product, warns South Dakota Representative Dusty Johnson on AgriTalk.

Disappointment, frustration and disbelief shook the U.S. pork industry when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to uphold California’s Proposition 12. Meanwhile, animal activist groups called it a win.

AgriTalk's host Chip Flory and Pro Farmer analyst Jim Wiesemeyer react to the Proposition 12 ruling and what's ahead.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld California’s new humane-pork law, rejecting an industry challenge in a ruling strengthening the power of states to impose rules that have a broad economic impact on other states.

No matter which room or which conversation you were in during the National Pork Industry Forum, almost every conversation touched on Proposition 12 at some point.

“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,” Dillard says.

Everybody wants to know what’s going to happen next with California Proposition 12. NPPC's Michael Formica shared an update at the Iowa Pork Congress.

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.

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

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

Terry Wolters was one of a handful of pork producers who watched Supreme Court justices grill attorneys with questions during oral arguments on Oct. 11 in NPPC v. Ross challenging the constitutionality of Prop 12.

“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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.